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Reforming the Expenditure Budget Process: The Canadian Experience
Author(s) -
Savoie Donald J.
Publication year - 1990
Publication title -
public budgeting and finance
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.694
H-Index - 30
eISSN - 1540-5850
pISSN - 0275-1100
DOI - 10.1111/1540-5850.00875
Subject(s) - government expenditure , context (archaeology) , government (linguistics) , budget process , process (computing) , economics , public economics , public expenditure , business , macroeconomics , political science , computer science , public finance , law , politics , paleontology , linguistics , philosophy , biology , operating system
During the past twenty years the government of Canada has introduced three distinct approaches to managing its expenditure budget. The approaches were all introduced with considerable fanfare and also with the promise that they would enable the government to finally get a firm handle on its expenditure budget. This paper looks at the three approaches and outlines their most important features. The paper also presents the reasons that led to the downfall of both the Program Planning Budgeting System (PPBS) and the Policy and Expenditure Management System (PEMS). The paper goes on to argue that the recently introduced approach—labeled the Expenditure Review Committee (ERC)—is also unlikely to meet expectations. It also provides an historical context for understanding why each particular approach was adopted.