Economists sound the alarm about ‘very concerning’ lack of transparency on federal finances

Minister of Finance Francois-Philippe Champagne embraces Prime Minister Mark Carney while presenting the Spring Economic Update in the House of Commons on Parliament Hill in Ottawa April 28, 2026. Photo by Blair Gable /Postmedia

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OTTAWA – Economists are sounding the alarm on what they view is a lack of transparency around the federal government’s spending and fiscal outlook.

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Since the spring economic update, Prime Minister Mark Carney has announced several new spending initiatives including a national AI strategy, a food security strategy, a West Coast pipeline project and a cooperative prosperity agreement with the province of British Columbia.

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In a recently published report, Desjardins deputy chief economist Randall Bartlett, said the new commitments add $40 billion in extra spending over the next decade, beyond what was announced in the last fiscal update in April.

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“A lot of it seemed to be from previous envelopes, but some of it doesn’t all seem to be accounted for,” he said.

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Bartlett pointed out his estimate of unaccounted spending is based on incomplete information, because the federal government has not been transparent on how it plans to pay for these measures.

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For example, when it comes to financing a new pipeline project, it’s not immediately clear how much of the funding burden will be placed on the federal government through the federally owned Trans Mountain Corp., compared to the Alberta government.

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“I think that lack of transparency is very concerning because it all points to high and rising debt levels, and I’m not really sure what sort of restraint outside of reductions to the public service are being shown right now, and what sort of analysis is going into funding these projects,” he said.

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Bartlett is not the only one who is raising concerns about the lack of clarity around federal financial commitments.

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Don Drummond, former chief economist at TD Bank and professor at Queen’s University, said there is a lack of information surrounding how the federal government has reached its defence spending target under the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO).

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Drummond said he assumed the percentage of core defence spending to GDP was two per cent by 2030. But Carney’s comments in May suggested total defence spending would hit four per cent of GDP by 2030, suggesting higher core defence spending of 2.5 per cent.

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“Our fiscal framework has already provisioned to achieve four per cent of GDP in total defence spending by the end of this decade, ahead of NATO’s timetable,” said Carney, during an announcement on May 27.

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“And we will make additional provisions to achieve NATO’s five per cent spending target on or ahead of schedule,” he added.

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Drummond said it’s not shown anywhere, including in the recent spring economic statement.

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“I’ve been involved in budgets since 1977, and I’ve never seen such a lack of transparency,” he said.