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OTTAWA — Like the Harper government before it, the Trudeau government left billions of dollars unspent on everything from national parks to veterans services to economic development grants during the 2015-16 fiscal year.

The so-called “lapsed” funding for fiscal 2016 is $9.7 billion, according to the Public Accounts of Canada. All of those unspent funds were used to pay down the federal debt.

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This year’s three-volume public accounts also close the books on fiscal 2016, a year in which the Harper Conservatives controlled the purse strings for the first seven months and the Trudeau Liberals for the final five months.

While it is normal every year to see billions of dollars lapse, NDP MP Charlie Angus is flagging the $900 million left unspent by the Department of Indigenous Affairs at a time when there remains an urgent need for schools, for new drinking water systems and when Health Canada is, among other things, in court fighting to avoid paying an $8,000 dental surgery bill for an aboriginal girl in Alberta.