OTTAWA – Canada’s parliamentary budget officer says he’ll file court action this week over the refusal of some federal departments to hand over details of billions of dollars in planned cuts by the Harper government.

In a statement issued Sunday, Kevin Page says his office “will be filing and serving legal notice on all non-compliant” deputy ministers.

He wouldn’t provide any further details, saying “this matter will constitute the subject of a legal action” and it would be inappropriate for him to comment further.

Page has said the government has not been open and clear enough about what it intends to cut and has threatened court action for weeks.

As of the middle of last week, only 23 per cent of federal departments and agencies had handed over the requested financial information, and another 52 per cent had said they were going to comply by last Friday.