Budget 2012 committed the government to cutting spending by $5.2 billion annually. This followed months of uncertainty as to how big the cut would be- as low as $4 billion, as high as $8 billion. It was a nice compromise.

This commitment followed a decision in the 2010 budget to cut defense spending, capping the International Assistance Envelope at $5 billion and freezing the operating budgets of all government departments for two years.

In both budgets, the government stated that the savings would be found primarily through greater "efficiencies".