The Liberals Proved That Checks & Balances Are Needed.....

David Akin: How to turn $3 billion from rumour into 'Here's your cheque'

One of the ways the federal government is "hurrying money" out the door is to fiddle with the normal process by which the government is legally allowed to spend money. The opposition in Parliament questioned why the Conservatives needed to do this fiddling and, yesterday during a committee meeting, I heard the best explanation yet of why this fiddling was important. And that explanation came from a bureaucrat, not a politician.

The key concept to understand here is that Parliament must authorize every nickel the government spends. Whether it's paperclips the taxman uses, salaries for Parks Canada employees, or foreign aid, all the spending must go through Parliament.

The legislation for spending authority are often known as "supply bills". Each calendar year is roughly grouped into three "supply" periods. So while the federal budget and the government's annual expenditure plan are passed early in the year, the legislation that triggers actual spending is grouped around a series of documents and legislation tabled and voted on for each of the three supply periods.

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