Federal and provincial governments in Canada are failing to produce reliable budgets says a new report, as they routinely spend more money and collect more revenues than projected. These are the main findings of the report titled “Trouble on the Bottom Line: Canada’s Governments Must Produce More Reliable Budgets,” which was released by the C.D. Howe Institute last month. On Dec. 21, authors William B.P. Robson and Miles Wu wrote an open letter to Canada’s ministers of finance, outlining key findings from their report while calling for better budget targets and more disciplined adherence to them. “In theory, management of public funds by Canada’s federal, provincial and territorial governments reflects the preferences Canadians express through their elected representatives,” the letter said. “In reality, the chain of accountability has some weak links. Among them are the large discrepancies between budget projections and results.” Over the last 20 fiscal years for which there …