Bill C-476

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First Reading

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	1st Session, 36th Parliament, 46-47-48 Elizabeth II, 1997-98-99
	The House of Commons of Canada
	BILL C-476
	An Act to provide for improved information on the cost of proposed government programs
Preamble	Whereas insufficient information is given on the public cost of government programs;
	And whereas the public needs information on the estimated cost of a government program in order to have an informed opinion of it;
	Now, Therefore, Her Majesty, by and with the advice and consent of the Senate and House of Commons of Canada, enacts as follows:

Short title	1. This Act may be cited as the Program Cost Declaration Act.
Program cost declaration	2. (1) Where a new program that will be funded from public money is to be implemented, the minister of the Crown who will be responsible for the program shall
	(a) at the time of introducing a bill in Parliament that authorizes the program, if it is to be authorized by an Act, or
	(b) at the time the minister or the Governor in Council issues the regulation, order or other instrument that authorizes the program, if it is to be authorized by a regulation, order or other instrument,
	forthwith make a declaration of the estimated annual cost of the program in each of the first five years of its intended operation, expressed as a total cost and as a cost per capita for every resident of Canada.
Publication	(2) The declaration mentioned in subsection (1) shall within five days be
	(a) laid before the House of Commons, if it is sitting at the time; or
	(b) published in the Canada Gazette, sent to every member of the House of Commons and released in a statement to the media, if the House of Commons is not sitting at the time.
Auditor General's opinion	(3) The Auditor General of Canada shall
	(a) at the time the declaration is made, if time is available, or
	(b) if time is not available, as soon as possible thereafter,
	provide to the minister of the Crown responsible for the program an opinion that the method of calculation of the costs referred to in subsection (1) is valid and that the cost is a good estimate or, if the Auditor General dissents from that opinion, the reasons for the dissent, and the minister shall forthwith make the opinion public in the manner described in subsection (2).
Publication	(4) The minister of the Crown who is responsible for a program shall ensure that the costs referred to in subsection (1) are clearly and publicly displayed at every place under the jurisdiction of or contracted to the Government of Canada at which the program is delivered and in every document in which the minister or a person acting with the authority of the minister undertakes to deliver to any person a good or service under the program.

Bill C-476

BILL C-476