Thank you.
Good morning, Mr. Chair, vice–chairs and members of the committee. Thank you for inviting me to appear today. This is the first time since the start of the 44th Parliament that our office is appearing before this committee, and I am pleased to be here ahead of the pre-budget consultations for the 2022 budget.
Under the Parliament of Canada Act, I am mandated to support Parliament by providing analysis of macro-economic and fiscal policy to raise the quality of Parliamentary debate and promote greater budget transparency and accountability.
Some of you may know that the act also provides that I may conduct research into and analysis of matters relating to the nation's finances or economy at the committee's request. Under this provision of the act, the committee adopted a motion in the 42nd Parliament asking my office to produce a regular economic and fiscal outlook.
On January 19, we published our report, “Economic and Fiscal Update 2021: Issues for Parliamentarians”. Our report identifies several key issues to assist parliamentarians in their budget deliberations. One recommendation is to amend the legislation to change the release date of the public accounts. The report also indicates that since the start of the pandemic, the government has spent or is planning to spend almost $542 billion on new measures. Almost one-third of this was not included in Canada's response to COVID-19.
In addition to this report, my office has recently released other publications, including independent cost estimates for cleaning up Canada's orphaned oil and gas wells, a fiscal analysis on the proposed premium reduction for mortgage insurance and a report that assesses the insurance properties of the fiscal stabilization program.
It would be my pleasure to answer any questions you may have about the PBO's work as a whole. My office and I look forward to reviewing your suggestions on how we can best serve the committee and help you in your work during the pre-budget consultations for the 2022 budget and throughout the 44th Parliament.