Obviously, this is a mechanism for when a committee that has been specified here has requested it or.... There's a whole criteria here.
My question is for the member who's proposing this.
You've laid out a process for the reasons that the PBO can turn down a request. There's nothing that says the PBO has any accountability, though, to either the committee that made the request or whatnot, so I would ask if there is a mechanism. Do you have a further amendment down the road that would add to that? Right now they can turn you down, but there's no responsibility on the PBO whatsoever to even reply and give the dignity of a reply. To me if there is a proper reason, a rationale, such as it's not part of his mandate, or it's not in relation to the nation's finances or the economy, or it could be dealt with by someone else, it would be nice to have it in writing.
I think a committee such as our own would expect that. Will there be an amendment later on that would add that? If we're going to be giving independence to the office, which I'm not necessarily opposed to, we also have to make sure it's accountable to either House or its committees.