Conservative priorities by the numbers

The Conservative government is desperate to put the Senate scandal behind it so Stephen Harper can talk up the government’s priorities.

There’s no better place to see what those priorities are than in budget choices. Spending totals are in for last year, so you can see what counts as good spending, what gets cuts and what gets lapsed.

A sampling of spending that goes up:

Prime Minister’s Office: 7.4% increase
Minister’s Office – International Cooperation: 79% increase
Minister’s Office – Natural Resources: 59% increase
Minister’s Office – Foreign Affairs: 18% increase
Minister’s Office – National Revenue: 16% increase
Minister’s Office – HRSDC: 14% increase
Minister’s Office – Justice: 11% increase

A sampling of what gets cut:

First Nations Statistical Institute: 50% cut
Office of Infrastructure Canada:  17% cut
Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA): 13% cut
Parks Canada: 7.1% cut
Canadian Environmental Assessment Agency: 5.4% cut
Canadian Heritage: 4.7% cut
Foreign Affairs: 3.5% cut

A sampling of lapsed funding:

Aboriginal Affairs and Northern Development: $369.9 million
CIDA: $298.4 million
Veterans Affairs: $172.9 million
Environment Canada: $125.6 million
Canadian Food Inspection Agency: $34.3 million
Canadian Heritage: $25.2 million
Canadian Environmental Assessment Agency: $4.1 million

Photo: arturoyee. Used under a Creative Commons BY 2.0 licence.