Thank you, Mr. Chair.
I will be brief, since I just talked about it at length.
The amendment's purpose is to establish a requirement whereby, when financial institutions do not cooperate with the parliamentary budget officer, they would be required to inform the officer of the exception provided under paragraph (2) justifying their decision, as well as of the reason why the information in question is not covered by the exceptions provided under the Access to Information Act.
In addition, the parliamentary budget officer could inform a committee of a situation where, in his opinion, a federal institution is filibustering.
Finally, amendment NDP-14 gives the parliamentary budget officer the power to refer the case to the Federal Court under subsection 18.3(1) of the Federal Courts Act as though it were a federal board.
The goal is to clarify the parliamentary budget officer's powers, although I have been told that he could certainly seek recourse. The purpose of the amendment is to include that power in the legislation so as to guarantee that legal recourse would be possible if a federal institution were filibustering. This way, the parliamentary budget officer could take the matter before the court to obtain an order so that the documents he needs to do his work would be given to him.
I hope that my colleagues will support the amendment.