Except for Alberta and B.C., Canadians cast ballots in every province this year. And in three provinces - Quebec, Ontario, and Newfoundland - we saw changes in government. In each instance, the new incoming government promised to work hard, heal divisions, etc.

But as sure as night follows day, as soon as they were sworn into office, surprise, surprise, the books were opened and the proverbial cupboards were bare. Surpluses became deficits and deficits became bigger deficits.
This decades-old political shell game is tiresome and infuriating.

Here's how it works: The outgoing administration delivers the office keys to the new folks with a wink, a special handshake and then leaves the oops-we-have-a-(fill in the blank) deficit-analysis on the top left hand side of the desk. And the new crew can't miss it, it's the only document that wasn't shredded or boxed up for the archives. Governments of various partisan stripes are all guilty of this fraudulent Enron-esque abuse of taxpayer trust.

Corporate North America has been rightly forced to take steps to reform its financial disclosure and governance, we should demand no less from our politicians. After the fudge-it budget scandal of the mid-1990s in B.C. - where politicians ordered bureaucrats to doctor (read: misreport) numbers - an independent panel chaired by respected accountant Doug Enns proposed major reforms to clean up B.C.'s budgeting practices.

While some provinces are better than others in the transparent reporting of their finances, improvements (in law) can be made by governments across the country.

Verifiable budgets: A budget is more than a simple partisan statement of political intent. At its core, a budget must accurately present the state of the jurisdiction's finances. Then an independent legislative officer, like the Auditor General, should sign off on the veracity of the document.

Budget timing: It should be law that governments must introduce and pass an annual budget before the start of the first fiscal period which the budget covers. This timing must also include an appropriate window for independent verification.

Special warrants: Special warrants allow governments to spend monies not accounted for in a budget due to extraordinary circumstances such as a war, natural disaster, civil service strike or public health emergency. However, governments routinely use these warrants out of political convenience to sidestep parliament, the legislature or city council. With proper budget timing periods passed into law, consequent legislative changes should be made to curtail the use of special warrants for their intended purpose only.

Pre-budget data: Most jurisdictions conduct pre-budget consultations to obtain input from stakeholders and the general public. Governments should be compelled to publish verifiable base data forecasts of growth and revenues in advance of these consultations to improve the consistency and quality of options proffered by stakeholders. Case in point, Finance Minister John Manley presented his Economic Update on November 3rd which was of little value to most groups since they had already submitted their pre-budget proposals by this time.

Transparency of forecasts: Finance officials and municipal budget chiefs base their revenue and expenditure estimates on assumptions and advice from staff and outside economists. Full public disclosure of these documents before budget tabling - including variance ranges and cautionary notes - is essential.

Truth in budgeting legislation is long overdue. If changes are not enacted, then the politicians that deliberately mislead taxpayers about the state of public finances deserve the same fate as the fraudsters behind the Wall Street accounting scandals like Enron, steep fines and jail time.