Nearly $3B to go unspent

The federal budget watchdog says nearly $3 billion in planned government spending that had been approved by Parliament will go unspent this fiscal year.

The parliamentary budget officer says the government's most-recent spending projections indicate that this money has been administratively frozen.

The analysis says these sums can no longer be spent by federal organizations in 2016-17 and will lapse at the end of the 2016-17 fiscal year.

The budget office report says the Treasury Board of Canada could decide to change the years in which the approved spending is allocated or it could transfer the funds.

The report says the biggest sums that have been frozen include $829 million allotted for Infrastructure Canada, $366 million for National Defence, $192 million for Fisheries and Oceans Canada and $100 million for Indigenous and Northern Affairs Canada.

The budget office says parliamentarians may want to ask the government why some allotments have been frozen and which programs have been affected.