Quote:
Originally Posted by Makarov
The numbers:
Source: Aboriginal Affairs and Northern Development Canada
That compares to $20 billion each year to National Defence, $28.5 billion for health transfers to the provinces, $29 billion for interest costs, 30.5 billion for old age security, and 26 billion for fiscal equalization and social transfer payments (obviously there is some overlap here in that some of this money is included in the $10 billion dollar figured cited above.) So, although spending directed to Aborignal people in Canada is certainly a significant government expense, I'm not sure I would characterize it as "one of the biggest". |
Fair enough, if you want to debate the semantics of my interpretation of "one of" or "significant" in relation to my opinion of government spending and how it relates to the scope of aboriginal affairs have at 'er. Is top 10 not "one of" the biggest? What's your criteria? Because in my in my opinion, if we're using 10 billion (your number) it's big enough to qualify for (in my mind) heavy scrutiny.
My point still stands though. It's a crapload of money, and because it's what I would call a large expenditure it should come along with a high degree of transparency.