OTTAWA—Budget watchdog Kevin Page may take the Harper government to court now that federal officials have turned down Page’s latest request for more information on how spending cuts will impact Canadians.

The government has already “shared extensive data with you on Budget 2012,” Wayne Wouters, the clerk of the Privy Council, says in his latest letter to Page, the parliamentary budget officer.

Page is engaged in a tug-of-war with Wouters, who heads the government department that serves Prime Minister Stephen Harper, over how much information the government is willing to disclose on spending cuts in the budget.

While the government insists it is rolling out details on job cuts and changes in federal programs in keeping with normal parliamentary practices, Page says the Conservatives are holding back information, with the result that members of Parliament will be voting on the budget before they know its full impact.

“We have definitely not ruled out a Federal Court option,” Page said in response to Wouters’ latest letter to the PBO. Page said he obtained a legal opinion last spring that his four-year-old mandate to inform MPs on financial and fiscal operations of the government clearly indicates he is entitled to the budget details he is seeking.

Finance Minister Jim Flaherty’s March 29 budget was focused on reducing the $21-billion budget deficit. It included the elimination of 19,000 federal jobs and spending reductions of $5 billion annually. But Page says, in combination with earlier budget restraint measures, federal spending will be reduced by $37 billion over five years — a strategy he says is likely to lead to reductions in services and programs for the public.

“Parliament cannot hold the government to account if departments do not provide financial plans on how they will achieve Budget 2012 fiscal objectives,” Page said Tuesday. “Parliament needs to see the details (where the cuts will take place; how service levels will be maintained or adjusted) before they approve department appropriations to ensure they are satisfied with the quality of the plans.”

Treasury Board President Tony Clement originally suggested the details on how the budget will affect federal jobs and Canadians’ services would come out quickly. But he later said the government will follow the usual budgetary process, with details included in spending estimates put before Parliament, the annual Public Accounts of government operations and departmental rundowns in the Reports on Plans and Priorities, published each spring.

But Page says details that could have been made public this spring were withheld and may not become public until next year. The first public implementation bill was passed by MPs in the summer. A second and final package of budget legislation is expected to become law by year end.

Page has often been at odds with the Harper government, which created his position. In his letter, Wouters said Page has a mandate to examine the national finances to determine the impact on the “financial and fiscal affairs” of the government. But Wouters says Page is not mandated to “review all of the operations of the government.”

More data on the impact of the budget, compiled by Page’s office, will be released by the PBO next week.

Interim Liberal Leader Bob Rae said Page’s inability to get the information he seeks was a “very unhealthy sign.”

“This is the most secretive government in Canadian history outside of wartime,” Rae told reporters.

Loading... Loading... Loading... Loading... Loading... Loading...

“It’s disgraceful that Mr. Page and others are being forced to take this government to court in an effort to get to the bottom of things,” he said.

With files from Bruce Campion-Smith