Introduction - 2018–19 Interim Estimates

Summary of Estimates

The 2018–19 Interim Estimates provide information in support of $30.9 billion in voted budgetary expenditures and $14.3 million in voted non‑budgetary expenditures. This funding supports the government’s financial requirements for the first three months of the fiscal year.

In March 2018, the Government will introduce a supply bill and Parliament will vote on appropriations for the 2018–19 Interim Estimates.

Other Estimates in 2018–19

The Government will table a full Main Estimates, including planned voted and statutory expenditures for the full fiscal year, on or before April 16, 2018. These Main Estimates will likely be tabled after the 2018 Federal Budget and therefore be able to reflect Budget priorities. The Government will introduce another appropriation act in June to reflect the additional amounts requested in the Main Estimates.

Supplementary Estimates will continue to present information on additional spending requirements which were either not sufficiently developed in time for inclusion in the Main Estimates, or have subsequently been refined to account for developments in particular programs and services. Two Supplementary Estimates are planned for 2018–19 with tabling in the fall of 2018 and early 2019. The associated appropriation acts will follow shortly thereafter.

Estimates by Organization

Votes

The basic structural units of the Estimates are the votes. The following kinds of votes appear in the Estimates:

A program expenditures vote is used when there is no requirement for either a separate “capital expenditures” vote or a “grants and contributions” vote because neither equals or exceeds $5 million. In this case, all expenditures are charged to a single vote.

An operating expenditures vote is used when there is also a requirement for either a “capital expenditures” vote or a “grants and contributions” vote, or both – that is, when expenditures of either type equal or exceed $5 million. Otherwise, the expenditures are included in the “program expenditures” vote.

A capital expenditures vote is used when the aggregate of capital expenditures equals or exceeds $5 million. Capital expenditures are those made for the acquisition or development of items that are classified as tangible capital assets as defined by government accounting policies, for example: for the acquisition of real property, infrastructure, machinery or equipment; or for purposes of constructing or developing assets, where an organization expects to draw upon its own labour and materials, or employs professional services or other services or goods. Expenditure items in a capital expenditures vote are for items that generally exceed $10,000, although an organization may select a reduced threshold to be applied to different capital classes.

A grants and contributions vote is used when expenditures on transfer payments equal or exceed $5 million. It should be noted that the inclusion of a grant, contribution or other transfer payment item in the Estimates imposes no requirement to make a payment, nor does it give a prospective recipient any right to the funds. In addition, the meaning of the word “contributions” is considered to include “other transfer payments”.

A non‑budgetary vote, identified by the letter “L” preceding the vote number, provides authority for spending in the form of loans or advances to, and investments in, Crown corporations; and loans or advances for specific purposes to other governments, international organizations or persons or corporations in the private sector.

The Government must also establish separate votes for each distinct legal entity and to make payments to Crown corporations. Where this is the case, a separate vote structure is established for each. A legal entity for these purposes is defined as a unit of government operating under an Act of Parliament and responsible directly to a Minister.

To support the Treasury Board in performing its statutory responsibilities for managing the government’s financial, human and materiel resources, a number of special authorities are required. These authorities are described in the vote wording found in the Proposed Schedules to the Appropriation Bill.

Structural Changs and Changes to Voted Authorities since the 2017–18 Estimates:

The following structural change is reflected in these Estimates:

• The Invest in Canada Hub is established. Order in Council P.C. 2018‑48 and 2018‑49 bring the Invest in Canada Act into force and designate the Minister of International Trade the appropriate Minister for the purposes of the Financial Administration Act.

The following new authority is sought through the Appropriation Act for these Estimates for all organizations:

• Vote wording across all organizations sets out limits on the amount of commitments which may be entered into for the fiscal year, as per section 32 (1)(b) of the Financial Administration Act, which was enacted by Budget Implementation Act, 2017, No. 2. As Interim Estimates provide information on requirements only until the end of June 2018, organizations require a higher limit in order to make commitments for expenditures occurring later in the fiscal year. These commitment limits are based on anticipated organizational budget levels at the time of this document’s preparation and do not include any resource changes linked to the 2018 Federal Budget.

The following new or amended authorities are also sought through the Appropriation Act for individual organizations:

• Canadian Food Inspection Agency is amending Vote 1 for authority to make grant payments;
• Department of Finance is amending the wording of Vote 5 to limit the maximum amount of financial assistance to the International Development Association for the 2018–19 fiscal year;
• Department of Foreign Affairs, Trade and Development is amending the wording of Votes 20 and L25 to limit the maximum amount of financial assistance to international financial institutions for the 2018–19 fiscal year;
• Department of National Defence is increasing the authority for total commitments in all votes to $33,438,160,225;
• Department of Transport is amending Votes 10, 15 and 20. The Department’s three grant and contributions votes will now correspond to the core responsibilities under its new departmental results framework;
• Library and Archives of Canada is amending Vote 1 for authority to spend revenues received from the provision of internal services;
• Office of Infrastructure of Canada is amending Vote 10 for authority to make grant payments; and
• Privy Council Office is amending Vote 1 for authority to spend revenues received from the provision of intelligence analyst training.