I think the PBO, the Parliamentary Budget Officer, can assist committees such as this one immensely. I agree with Mr. Marleau that he should be an officer of Parliament. I also think that making him an officer of Parliament means that he does not get stuck in limbo, wondering what he can or cannot do, or what authority he does or does not have, and becoming his own little soapbox rather than a support mechanism for the committee. That, I think, is important.
The Auditor General supports the public accounts committee. His report is tabled and referred to the committee. You have this close relationship between documentary support by the Auditor General and the committee's capacity to make inquiries of witnesses. The Parliamentary Budget Officer should be doing the same, giving you the report so that you, as the members of Parliament, can ask the important questions. Because the Parliamentary Budget Officer really doesn't have a reporting mechanism right now, he has his own press conferences and speaks in public.
The Auditor General doesn't do that. I would think you should be looking at it along the same lines for the Parliamentary Budget Officer—an officer of Parliament, reporting here, giving his reports to you, and you ask the questions.