Mr. Chairman, I think the irony or paradox with respect to the BQ motion is that it argues about putting the budget officer in the Office of the Auditor General, but then it follows up by stressing how important it is to have accessibility and proactive input through the committees of the budget officer. I believe that practice, both past and future, will verify that the role of oversight of committees will be enhanced more by placing the budget officer and the function with the Library of Parliament and the ancillary resources that exist there than if it were in a reactive mode in the Auditor General's office.
I do appreciate the points that have been raised by Mr. Sauvageau with respect to the Commissioner of the Environment, but the Commissioner of the Environment and the Auditor General, to some extent, are reactive. In this case, we're talking about a proactive, ongoing role. For example, in the committee's oversight with respect to the estimates, the ability to draw upon the resources of the budget officer through the Library of Parliament is far superior to entrenching the role of the budget officer in the Auditor General's office.
So I would suggest that if this committee is intent on completing the accountability loop with respect to the role of committees in their oversight function, this committee should support entrenching the budget officer in the Library of Parliament.