Thank you very much, Mr. Chair.
First of all, I want to say that it seems very unfortunate that we have to study changes to the mandate of the parliamentary budget officer in the context of a bill on the implementation of the budget. Aside from the word “budget”, there is no relationship between the two.
That said, I want to thank you, Mr. Page, for all the work you did in the past as parliamentary budget officer. I think your work was greatly appreciated by all Canadian citizens.
There are some unprecedented changes being proposed by the current government. Among others is the fact that the parliamentary budget officer will be required to submit an annual plan. I understand that it is normal to plan and forecast one's work and research. However, do you think that this plan may restrict the ability of the parliamentary budget officer to launch investigations that might come up during the year, investigations that had not been planned initially?