StimulusWatch.org is an American site relaying information about American tax expenditures. In the Canadian context, StimulusWatch.ca will channel and relay information about the current budget, its divisions, release, and related indicators. It will provide or guide visitors to reporting mechanisms vis-a-vis the successful delivery of alloted money and services. The site will aggregate and display other informative media relating to the budget, its delivery process, and the Canadian experience. This media will include but not be limited to video, infographics, summaries, graphs, etc.
 
The aim is to de-mystify the process of budgetting. How does Canada budget? How can the end of the process contribute back to the originating, official aspects? Whereas Budget 2009 is to be  “timely, targetted and temporary,” I suggest that all budgets can be understood by examining the “people, places, and policies” relevant to the current government’s activity. Regarding people, who affects and who is affected? Beginning from the Finance Minister, who then oversees the budget’s implementation down to the receptive citizen? Has reception been positive in all program areas? Regarding places, where is the money coming from? Where is it going? Where has it ended up? And regarding policies, what is the big idea(s)?
 
StimulusWatch.ca is a Canadian site relaying information about the financing of public initiatives. Like the American site, it will pay close attention to the actual initiatives underway. But whereas the American iteration tends to fixate on dollars spent, this Canadian version will focus on participation and engagement of the citizenry, using the tracking and reporting of the budget as a means to a more democratic end.
 
Is it possible for a suite of tools to emerge that allows a dispersed citizenry to collaboratively track and report on the expenditures of a federal government’s budget? How would we aggregate information, allowing individuals to be heard while avoiding an uninterpretable cacophany? Reporting, summarizing and demonstration concerning the budget must manifest in different forms for a variety of populations, i.e. various levels of literacy. By broadening our styles of accounting, we allow a broader spectrum of people to participate. Here, the process is the product. Tracking and support for sharing data are the desirable by-products of a process which fosters national inclusion and civic literacy.