Financial Risk:
Moderate
Score:
55/100
Asset Disposals
Q24
50/100
How effective are controls over the disposal of assets, and is information on these disposals, and the proceeds of their sale, transparent?
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The Surplus Crown Assets Act specifies the circumstances under which assets deemed surplus to requirements may be disposed of, by sale through a Crown…
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The process for reuse and disposal of surplus military material is laid out on the Government of Canada’s website in a specific section dedicated…
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As proceeds of surplus assets go to the Treasury Board Secretariat (TBS), the TBS tracks the financial results of disposals. [1] Because the DND…
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Q25
75/100
Is independent and transparent scrutiny of asset disposals conducted by defence establishments, and are the reports of such scrutiny publicly available?
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The Auditor General has auditing responsibilities for the entire government; the internal auditor for the DND and CAF is the ADM (Review Services). Both…
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Both the Chief Review Service and the Auditor General, as well as Public Works Canada, are insulated from interference by the executive or military.…
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Independent and transparent audit reports on asset disposals by DND have been released within a reasonable timeframe, albeit infrequently. However, the data available in…
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Secret Budgets
Q26
0/100
What percentage of defence and security expenditure in the budget year is dedicated to spending on secret items relating to national security and the intelligence services?
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The Canadian Special Operations Forces Command (SOF), JTF-2, is almost unmentioned in government publications. Its unit page, unlike others, does not specify unit size,…
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Q27
50/100
Is the legislature (or the appropriate legislative committee or members of the legislature) given full information for the budget year on the spending of all secret items relating to national security and military intelligence?
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The National Security and Intelligence Committee of Parliamentarians (NSICOP) Act [1] mandates the Committee to review: the legislative, regulatory, administrative and financial framework for…
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Q28
25/100
Are audit reports of the annual accounts of the security sector (the military and intelligence services) subject to parliamentary debate?
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Secret programs may be scrutinised by a committee of parliamentarians with appropriate clearances, who have the power to audit (financially, or for impact) any…
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There is not enough information to score this indicator. No audit of the annual accounts by the OAG for DND, CSIS or CSE could…
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Q29
42/100
In law, are off-budget military expenditures permitted, and if so, are they exceptional occurrences that are well-controlled? In practice, are there any off-budget military expenditures? If so, does evidence suggest this involves illicit economic activity?
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Off-budget expenditures, which may allow the military to conduct procurement without going through parliament, are permitted by law. The National Defence Act (Sections 2…
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Off-budget expenditures, namely the majority of funds for the half-billion dollar CFMWS, are not included in the budget. The CFMWS is only briefly mentioned…
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The majority of the CFMWS’s half-billion dollar financing is off-budget expenditure, that is, it is not directly financed by the Department since other government…
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Q30
75/100
Are mechanisms for accessing information from the defence sector effective?
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There is a publicly available explanation of how information is classified. [1] Legislation on access to information [2] and privacy [3] provides the policy…
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This indicator is not assigned a score in the GDI. There is both a standard for determining how information is classified [1] and a…
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According to the DND ATIP Office’s 2019-2020 Report to Parliament there were a total of 2,985 requests made under the Access to Information Act,…
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Q31
63/100
Do national defence and security institutions have beneficial ownership of commercial businesses? If so, how transparent are details of the operations and finances of such businesses?
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The National Defence Act (Sections 2 and 38 – 41) vests Non-Public Property (NPP) with the Chief of the Defence Staff (CDS), Base /…
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The CFMWS publishes their performance Measurement (i.e. from their operations) which includes data that is labeled “TBD” and “Internal Documents” (p. 65-64). Though a…
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Military-owned Businesses
Q32
50/100
Are military-owned businesses subject to transparent independent scrutiny at a recognised international standard?
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Military-owned businesses are subject to some scrutiny. However, revenue generated by the CFMWS is not reflected in the Departmental Reports for DND within financial…
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DND Audit and Evaluation Reports are published, some which address Non-Public Property, and others having few redactions; however, such reports are done by DND…
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Illegal Private Enterprise
Q33
100/100
Is there evidence of unauthorised private enterprise by military or other defence ministry employees? If so, what is the government’s reaction to such enterprise?
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The CAF Code of Values and Ethics prohibits any activity, including financial or commercial, that would conflict with the mission of the Canadian Armed…
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A database search of LexusNexus, and of Proquest, for Canadian news media in the last five years looking for (“Canadian Armed Forces” OR “CAF”…
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Actual Military Spending
Q77
75/100
Is comprehensive data on actual spending on defence published during the budget year?
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The departmental reports for the three most recent fiscal years [1] [2] [3] [4] publish budgeted and actual revenues and expenses in a largely…
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Each departmental report for FY 17-18, [1] FY 16-17, [2] FY 15-16, [3] and FY 18-19 [4] contains “other” expenditures and revenues, but they…
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For FY 2017-18, [1] 2016-17, [2] and 2015-16 [3] data on actual spending was released within five months of the end of the fiscal…
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The four most recent reports [1] [2] [3] [4] have notes and, in some cases, annexes explaining discrepancies between budget and actual expenditures, but…
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