Harper government left $97M unspent on social services, report shows http://www.cbc.ca/1.3063878

Harper government left $97M unspent on social services, report shows http://www.cbc.ca/1.3063878

Harper government left $97M unspent on social services, report shows

Document shows youth employment plan biggest loser last year as promised funds 'lapse'

By Dean Beeby, CBC News Posted: May 07, 2015 5:00 AM ET Last Updated: May 07, 2015 11:15 AM ET

Harper government left $97M unspent on social services 2:32

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The Harper government's promises to help jobless youth, the disabled, immigrants and illiterate adults fell short last year by almost $100 million.
That's the amount of so-called "lapsed" funding — money promised but never spent — at Canada's biggest social services department, Employment and Social Development Canada.

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An internal report shows that in 2013-14, the department fell short by $97.1 million of its promised dollars for 16 major programs, the largest such lapse in any of the five years since the 2008 economic meltdown.
The biggest shortfall, $30 million, was for the government's touted Youth Employment Strategy, or about 17 per cent of the strategy's total budget for that year. The program is meant to help reduce the youth jobless rate of about 13 per cent.

Disabled, literacy funds unused

An opportunities fund for the disabled failed to receive about a quarter of its $38.8-million budget. A literacy program underspent a third of its $21-million budget.

'You get all the credit for it without actually delivering anything.'- Jinny Sims, NDP critic

A Nov. 28 accounting of five years' worth of the department's lapsed dollars was obtained by CBC News under the Access to Information Act.
Other departments have also come under fire in recent months for failing to spend promised dollars, including:

• Veterans Affairs, which cumulatively lapsed $1.1 billion in the seven years to 2013.
• Foreign Affairs, which failed to spend almost half of the $129 million budgeted for "strengthening security at missions abroad" in 2013-14.
• The RCMP, which did not deliver a promised $2 million for its National Child Exploitation Co-ordination Centre last year.