Mr. Chairman, if I'm not mistaken, the purpose is to make the library officer autonomous and independent. The purpose of this amendment is to create a budget director linked to the Office of the Auditor General rather than to the Library of Parliament.
If you consult the election platform of the Conservative Party of Canada, you'll see, on page 11:
Ensuring truth in budgeting with a Parliamentary Budget Authority.
I'll read the first paragraph very quickly:
In the spring of 2004, the Liberal government told Canadians that the 2003-04 surplus would be only $1.9 billion. In fact it was $9.1 billion. In 2004-05, the Liberals spent about $9 billion at the end of the year to reduce their surplus to only $1.6 billion.
With a great deal of rigour, they explained the necessity—and I remind you that this is on page 11 of the Conservative Party's election platform, Stand Up for Canada—for an independent budgeting authority. The Conservatives were probably so busy that they forgot to include it. That's why, so that they can keep one of their promises, we're proposing that this independent budget auditor position be created, and, among other things, for the budget surpluses.