A letter obtained by The Globe and Mail states that cabinet ministers need to cut $15 billion from existing spending plans by October 2. Could that affect Canada’s space program?
The deadline comes as Anita Anand settles in on her new role as the Treasury Board President. During the recent cabinet shuffle Anand was shifted from the defence portfolio. Some thought the move was a demotion, while others considered it a lateral move where her skill set would come in handy in controlling the governments purse strings.
The cuts from existing spending plans is not new. Chapter 6 of this years budget contained the following cuts which is meant to save $15.6 billion over five years.
- Budget 2023 proposes to reduce spending on consulting, other professional services, and travel by roughly 15 per cent of planned 2023-24 discretionary spending in these areas. This will result in savings of $7.1 billion over five years, starting in 2023-24, and $1.7 billion ongoing. The government will focus on targeting these reductions on professional services, particularly management consulting.
- Budget 2023 proposes to phase in a roughly 3 per cent reduction of eligible spending by departments and agencies by 2026-27. This will reduce government spending by $7.0 billion over four years, starting in 2024-25, and $2.4 billion ongoing. Reductions will not impact direct benefits and service delivery to Canadians; direct transfers to other orders of government and Indigenous communities; and the Canadian Armed Forces.
- The government will also work with federal Crown corporations to ensure they achieve comparable spending reductions, which would account for an estimated $1.3 billion over four years starting in 2024-25, and $450 million ongoing.
The budget did however add substantial funding to Canada space program. This included an additional $1.42 billion for a lunar utility vehicle ($1.2B), $150 million for the Lunar Exploration Accelerator Program, and $76.5 million towards Canadian science on the Lunar Gateway station. The government also proposed funding of $1.1 billion for the International Space Station to take it through to 2030 when it will be decommissioned.
So on the face of it, it would seem the space program might escape the cuts. Well, not so fast.
While budget 2023 states that there will be a “roughly 3 per cent reduction of eligible spending by departments and agencies by 2026-27,” what does “eligible” mean? In reading the Globe and Mail article they left out that word in their reporting. Should we infer anything in that?
What we do know is that the Canadian Space Budget for this year is set at $476 million. The planned spending for their next fiscal year is $265 million, but I would caution that what actually becomes the budget is usually very different from planned spending. It’s likely that spending next year will be higher than planned taking into account the new funding from this years budget. But this does not mean that other programs not related to the Canada’s moon push won’t see some cuts.