Budget 2023 includes convoy response money, $1B to bolster Phoenix pay system

The federal budget tabled Tuesday focuses on some big-picture concerns, from the rising cost of living, to health care, to shifting the economy away from fossil fuels.

• Freeland's 2023 budget includes billions for dental care, cuts and tax hikes to tame rising deficit

The 266-page document also describes how the government wants to get spending "back to a pre-pandemic path" after a few years of adding programs and growing the federal public service.

In the coming years, federal departments, agencies and Crown Corporations with about 40 per cent of their employees in the capital region will be looking at reducing spending by about three per cent.

For those living in the capital region, here are four budget highlights:

Convoy reimbursement

The federal budget includes $91 million this year for Public Safety Canada to reimburse cities and the RCMP for their security operations during the truck convoy protest in the winter of 2022.

The Ottawa Police Service has been expecting Public Safety Canada to refund it $10.9 million for protests and events last year under the program for "extraordinary policing" in the nation's capital.

The City of Ottawa has calculated its own convoy-related costs at $2.3 million, a figure that hits $7 million when the municipality accounts for lost transit and parking revenue, and the impacts on downtown business organizations.

Phoenix pay system

The federal budget sets aside a whopping $517 million this year and $521 million next year so Public Services and Procurement Canada can keep existing staff at the Miramichi payment centre to process pay transactions for public servants, and deal with the ongoing backlog.

That figure is far higher than past amounts allocated for the failed Phoenix system that launched in 2016, in part because the federal public service has added tens of thousands of employees in the past few years which means a higher volume of transactions.

Back in September 2021, the softwarecompany Ceridian was chosen to design the next generation of the federal payment system.

Budget 2023 includes $52 million for Shared Services Canada to work on that replacement for Phoenix, as well as for Treasury Board to deal with human resources and pay matters.

NAC, museums

An extra $13 million this fiscal year and $15 million next year will again go toward the National Arts Centre so that it's financiallysustainable.

The performing arts Crown Corporation had a budget of $92 million last year, andit has received federal help in recent years because its ticket sales fell off significantly when stages closed during the pandemic.

Meanwhile, six national museums will share $23 million this year and $30 million next year to help with "immediate building maintenance."

That includes the National Gallery of Canada, the Canadian Museum of History, the Canadian Museum of Nature and the Canada Science and Technology Museum.

Transit and infrastructure

The budget contains no new details on money to pay for transit infrastructure for municipalities, but promises information by this fall on the big-ticket permanent fund worth $3 billion a year that's to start in 2026-27, which was announced a couple years ago.

The budget makes no mention of funding to help municipalities operate their transit systems. The City of Ottawa has relied on pandemic-era funding for OC Transpo, and its current budget is based on receiving an extra $39 million from upper levels of government.

The doors are closing for any new allocations under the Investing in Canada Infrastructure Program, which has been helping pay for various projects from new buses to upgrading sewage treatment plants and recreation centres.

The budget document says "the government is actively reviewing Canada's continued infrastructure needs" for future funding.