Thank you, Mr. Chair.
I want to thank Mr. Khan and Mr. Page for their presence here today, for stimulating minds on both sides of the Rideau Canal. That's very important with the Institute of Fiscal Studies and Democracy.
Mr. Page, in your remarks to my colleague Mr. Liepert earlier, you said there are different people we could bring in. We are talking about the parliamentary budget office, not the government budget office. This is an omnibus bill, so there are lots of measures in it. With very little consultation—I would say no consultation that I'm aware of—the government has suddenly added a sprinkling of different measures.
There has been very little explanation. Now that there is some resistance, even from the parliamentary budget office itself, saying that the proposed amendments may not be in the office's best interests nor in those of Parliament, would an alternative process be better? Would it be better for us to actually cut this out of the bill and perhaps have a joint session of the committees of both Houses, or have a special committee of both Houses?
This involves Parliament. This is an institution that would become an office of Parliament, sir. Do you think that the two hours of examination here and the debate you've heard thus far on this bill are really going to do this institution and this future officer of Parliament position justice?