House move to call off hearings must not lead to delayed or reenacted budget

It is the prerogative of the House to suspend hearings on 2019 national budget.

We can only hope that after this pause, they can fast-forward their review so that the budget will arrive in the Senate as scheduled and will not jeopardize the traditional timetable of an enacted budget by the end of the year.

As we are four and a half months away from the end of the year, any speculation of a re-enacted budget is premature.

The Senate must continue with its parallel hearings on the 2019 budget because only through these rigorous examination of agency budgets will we be able to discover their flaws and faults and apply the remedial measures.

The continuation of the Senate hearings actually give us the opportunity to discover and inquire from agencies if their proposed budget for 2019 is at the level that will allow them to fulfill their mandates.

The 2019 budget is crucial as it is the expenditure program post-TRAIN and must be reflective of the promised boost in social services and infrastructure spending on which TRAIN was premised.