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‘There’s no other reason why you couldn’t have done both’

The Hill Times talks to Scott Clark, a former deputy minister of finance, about the need to prorogue Parliament before delivering a budget.

Scott Clark, a former Finance deputy minister, however, said that Finance ministers have always engaged in pre-budget consultations and while the March 3 budget will be an important one that requires consultations in order to understand the public mood and “not surprise anybody,” governments are always able to plan their budgets when the House is sitting.

“I don’t think prorogation has anything to do with anything, if you can’t plan a budget with the House sitting, that strikes me as a bit odd. Every budget that I’ve ever worked on, and I worked on a lot, the House wasn’t prorogued. The minister carried on doing his job and we planned a budget and I don’t see why this particular budget requires more consultation than any other budget that this government has done, quite frankly, and there’s no other reason why you couldn’t have done both,” said Mr. Clark.

… Mr. Clark said consultations are “good politics but at the end of the day not much of that actually sees the budget.”

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