This Web page has been archived on the Web.

2002 April Report of the Auditor General of Canada

April 2002 Report—Chapter 8

Exhibit 8.5—The Treasury Board Secretariat's eight guidelines

The Secretary of the Treasury Board in 1989 reported to the Senate Standing Committee on National Finance on the Secretariat's approach to reviewing departmental requests for access to the Government Contingencies Vote. The following are some of the guidelines set out in that report, as approved by Treasury Board:

  1. As the authority for payments out of the contingencies fund is contained in the Vote 5 wording, all such payments must be fully consistent with that wording itself (if necessary, they could be legitimate charges to Vote 5).
  2. As a general rule, permanent charges will not be made to the Vote for requirements other than paylist shortfalls or awards under the Public Service Inventions Act . All other advances from the Contingencies Vote should be considered temporary advances to be covered by items included in subsequent Supplementary Estimates and reimbursed when the associated appropriation act is passed.
  3. When cash advances are requested to meet a financial requirement, the Treasury Board must be assured that the payment is within the legal mandate of the department and that there is a valid cash requirement that must be met before Supplementary Estimates are approved.
  4. When making a transfer to provide authority for a payment, the Treasury Board must be satisfied that there is valid and sufficient reason why the payment must be made before normal parliamentary approval is received. If the payment could reasonably be deferred until Supplementary Estimates are tabled and Parliamentary authority granted via an appropriation act, the contingency funding should not be provided to grant such authority.

In 1996, the Secretariat added the following guidelines:

  1. Sufficient funds must be available within Treasury Board Vote 5.
  2. The department's existing appropriated authority must be insufficient to cover existing requirements and those of the new initiative (excluding grant items) until the end of the current Supply period.
  3. There must be a sense of urgency related to the initiative such that the expenditure must be made prior to Parliament's approval of the item in an appropriation act.

And, more recently:

  1. There must be a valid, legally incorporated recipient in existence to whom the grant is to be paid.

These guidelines remain in effect today, and the Secretariat uses them to assess each departmental request for access to Vote 5. It then submits the request to the Treasury Board with its recommendations. Of the eight guidelines used by Treasury Board Secretariat staff, only the first four above have been approved by Treasury Board ministers as formal Treasury Board policy.