We want members of Parliament to be very comfortable, with the kind of parliamentary budget office they want. I think the more you can go through, on a clause-by-clause basis, the questions of whether this legislation captures the purpose, whether it's the precise mandate that you want, whether these are the kinds of reports you want to see every year from the parliamentary budget officer, what the relationships with committees and individual MPs are, what the qualifications of the individual PBO are.... The more you can get comfortable with that...because this legislation, once it's done, could last decades before it needs to be changed, as we've seen in other countries. Getting as comfortable as possible in understanding the modus operandi of this office would be the best use of this committee.
On May 10th, 2017. See this statement in context.