Gov't should name interim PBO: Page

[FiveParadox]

According to Mr. Kevin Page, the Parliamentary Budget Officer, it is imperative that Her Majesty's Government for Canada appoint an interim Parliamentary Budget Officer (PBO) before his term expires on March 25, 2013. The PBO asserts that a failure to make an interim appointment constitutes a "management failure" on the part of the Government of Canada.

If the Government wants to appoint an interim officer, it has the authority to do so through an order of the Governor General-in-Council (i.e., the Crown on the advice of ministers). The current Government created the PBO under the Library of Parliament with amendments to the Parliament of Canada Act brought in with the Federal Accountability Act in 2006.

Mr. Page has been at odds with the Government since his appointment in early 2008, as he became shortly thereafter very critical of its budgetary practices. The Government used its majority to defeat a motion proposed by Her Majesty's Loyal Opposition two weeks ago, which would have seen the House of Commons reaffirm the importance of the PBO, and call on the Government to extend Mr. Page's term and to make the PBO a full and independent Officer of Parliament.

With the reluctance of the Government to appoint an interim officer, there are concerns that the office will be vacant at the end of March when the federal budget is tabled. This would mean that there would be no PBO "to provide independent analysis to the Senate and the House of Commons about the state of the nation's finances, the estimates of the government and trends in the national economy," as the office is mandated to undertake pursuant to the Act.

Conduct of the Government

The conduct of the present Government in relation to the Parliamentary Budget Officer—and let's be clear, this is an office that they created, and an officer that they appointed—has been nothing less than appalling. The Government thought that it would be a more accountable practice for an independent officer to review the budgetary and financial practices of the Government. Now that they have that, the Government has, at every turn, ridiculed and undermined the office.

The Government should take immediate steps to (a) appoint an interim officer, so that there is someone to serve as PBO when the federal budget is tabled this spring; (b) table legislation to promote the PBO to a full and independent Officer of Parliament, with all of the resources and authority that go with such an office; and (c) curtail the power of the Government to interfere with the office's work. Only then will the Government be serious about budget accountability.

Sources

• Feds should name an interim PBO for next budget, else a "management failure": Page (source)
• Parliament of Canada Act, R.S.C. 1985, c. P-1 (source)
• Official Opposition tables motion to extend PBO term (source)

 

[relic]

As soon as they find +one with the right lips,can't be breaking suction at the wrong moment now,wha ?

 

[Trex]

"The Government should take immediate steps to (a) appoint an interim officer, so that there is someone to serve as PBO when the federal budget is tabled this spring; (b) table legislation to promote the PBO to a full and independent Officer of Parliament, with all of the resources and authority that go with such an office; and (c) curtail the power of the Government to interfere with the office's work. Only then will the Government be serious about budget accountability."

The Government of the day SHOULD do a lot of things.
But what is it legally REQUIRED to do?

When has a sitting Government of Canada ever been serious about budget (spending) accountability?
Long before my time if ever.

I suspect we can count on the Conservatves to do exactly what benefits them the most without threatening their mandate to rule.

 

[taxslave]

Appointing an independent PBO ot to be interesting.

 

[Goober]

Well Page has pissed in various Govt Ministers cornflakes.
But here's the nub.

Conservatives’ handling of Kevin Page makes them vulnerable in 2015 | Full Comment | National Post

After serving five years as official goad and perpetual thorn in the Conservative government’s side, Parliamentary Budget Officer Kevin Page is preparing to hand over his abacus and magnifying glass to a successor – or he would be, if he had a successor. So far, though only a month remains in Page’s term, none has been appointed.

It’s almost as though the Harper government doesn’t much care who replaces the doggedly independent-minded Page, or if he’s replaced at all. “In due course following a thorough process,” says Treasury Board President Tony Clement. Senior ministers have long made no secret of their disdain for Page and his analyses: Last year the finance minister himself dismissed one of the PBO’s more controversial reports, on the sustainability of Canada’s old age income security system, as “unbelievable, unreliable and incredible.”

Here’s what’s odd about this: Consistently – whether on the true cost of the Afghan mission, on the state of the federal deficit, or on the F-35 jet procurement project – Page’s cost projections have turned out to be right, whereas the government’s have turned out to be wrong. He has more than proven the value of the office to taxpayers, in other words. The Conservatives created the PBO, as part of their 2006 Federal Accountability Act. Page’s success, though it has stung them politically, is therefore their success. Yet they refuse to own it. How can they be so shortsighted?