Thank you, Mr. Chairman, and thank you for asserting the role of chair in terms of the respect we have for witnesses. From time to time, we have members of the public here also, and we should always afford the kind of respect they have a right to expect, whether they're from our staff or from the public.
Mr. Chairman, I've been interested in the part of the report that deals with supporting Parliament. I know the committee is interested in the role of the parliamentary budget officer that has been suggested in the legislation. Reading the legislation, I see that the role of the parliamentary budget officer is to close the accountability loop with respect to revenue raising and spending, rather than with respect to actually creating the budget.
My question, Mr. Chairman, is whether it would not be better, because there have been concerns raised with respect to creating more bureaucracy unnecessarily, to entrench the authority of a parliamentary budget officer in the Auditor General's office, as opposed to running a parallel role. It would appear to me that the infrastructure in the Auditor General's office would be available to the parliamentary budget officer without having to create additional backup.
That's my question, Mr. Chair.