Foreign Minister Mélanie Joly’s department is rejecting allegations of “March Madness” after spending $523,446 on furniture in a single day at the end of the last fiscal year.
Blacklock's Reporter says in a briefing note dated November 28, Global Affairs Canada insisted the purchases had been planned well in advance and were not part of a year-end spending spree to use up unspent funds.
“Of the invoices paid at the end of the fiscal year, each decision to buy and each order was placed several months earlier as part of the ongoing review and standard furniture replacement cycle,” stated the note.
“Furniture paid for at fiscal year-end would have been ordered much earlier.”
The note further clarified that orders are made throughout the year and often take months to process and pay. “Goods are generally paid within 30 days of receipt,” it said.
Records show the department processed 73 separate furniture orders on March 31, 2024, the final day of the fiscal year. Payments were made before the midnight deadline, prompting concerns about potential “March Madness” spending — a term used to describe the practice of rushing to spend leftover budgets at the last minute.
Budget Officer Yves Giroux has previously highlighted this behavior, explaining in Senate testimony in 2021 that departments sometimes spend money unnecessarily to avoid losing unused funds.
“You spend money you have rather than let it lapse even if you don’t absolutely need the money,” Giroux said, noting such practices often lead to questionable year-end spending.
Examples of past “March Madness” expenditures include a Department of Finance rush order for yoga mats and medicine balls just before the fiscal deadline and a Department of National Defence entry listing 13 separate $1,000 payments marked “support allocation for cadet units.”
The Commons government operations committee has called for an investigation into Global Affairs Canada’s furniture purchases.
Conservative MP Kelly Block criticized the spending as ill-timed and out of touch. “This apparent end-of-budget-year spending blitz occurs at a time when Canadians are facing financial hardship and accessing food banks in record numbers,” said Block during a November committee meeting.
While Global Affairs has defended its purchases as routine, past audits have consistently raised concerns about suspiciously high discretionary spending by federal departments each March.
