Article content

The surprising revelation last week that Ottawa is almost $7-billion ahead of schedule for eliminating the deficit is attracting the scrutiny of the budget watchdog.

The No. 2 man in the Parliamentary Budget Office says officials have asked the Finance Department for clarification.

We apologize, but this video has failed to load.

tap here to see other videos from our team. Try refreshing your browser, or Watchdog to investigate government's $7B budget surprise after Ottawa announces shrinking deficit Back to video

“We’ll look at it because it will affect our own numbers, and try and figure out what the source of it is,” says Mostafa Askari.

“There’s a part we still don’t understand … as to why departments spent less than what they were expected to … and why they [Finance] didn’t see it in March,” when the budget was tabled.

I think I’m scaring them all

In a report last week, the government pegged the deficit for the 2012-13 fiscal year at $18.9-billion, rather than the $25.9-billion estimated in the March budget.

The lion’s share of the difference — about $4.9 billion — came from lower program spending, including on the public service.

Mr. Askari said one pressing question is whether the savings were largely a one-time occurrence or will flow through to future years.