Evidence of meeting #146 for Government Operations and Estimates in the 42nd Parliament, 1st Session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was plan.
A recording is available from Parliament.
Parliamentary Budget Officer, Office of the Parliamentary Budget Officer
Access to information, I think, will continue to be an issue.
Liberal
Kyle Peterson Liberal Newmarket—Aurora, ON
What powers do you have? You make the request of the department, whatever entity you need the information from. They could say yes and provide it, or say yes and take their time providing it, or sometimes they say no. What resources do you have, if they say no—
Conservative
Parliamentary Budget Officer, Office of the Parliamentary Budget Officer
If they say no, I can name and shame them, and I think that's probably the most efficient dissuasion. In my experience, all public servants hate being dragged in front of a committee, so naming and shaming them and threatening that they'll be required to testify in front of a committee is sufficient in most cases to allow them to provide me with the information, if they can.
Louis-Saint-Laurent, CPC
Thank you very much, Mr. Chair.
Welcome to your House of Commons, Mr. Giroux and Mr. Jacques.
Mr. Giroux, please accept our hearty congratulations. You have been on the job for barely three months. You were appointed by the government, and I believe the position is a good match for your talent and experience. I wish you a successful seven years.
I would like to take this opportunity to thank your predecessor, Mr. Fréchette, with whom we had the pleasure of working over the past five years, three years in my case. I always appreciated his open and positive approach to managing the public purse and how he perceived his job as parliamentary budget officer, which is not an easy job as we all know. I wouldn't exactly call you a watchdog. Your job is to provide accurate information about public finances, which can be upsetting to the government and delightful to the opposition, be they Liberal or Conservative.
I would like to touch on what Ms. Mendès said just now about the government's economic update and the state of public finances just prior to a federal election. I would like you to comment on that, and then I will share a few observations.
You said you are open to the idea. Is that something you would actually like to see? Now that we have fixed election dates, we would know exactly when to expect your report.
If you agree with that, what are your thoughts on the timeline?
Parliamentary Budget Officer, Office of the Parliamentary Budget Officer
I think it's a very good idea. I think anything that can level the playing field, any non-partisan, unbiased information that can be made available to parliamentarians, is a good thing for them as well as for the Canadian public. That's why I intend to release not only the April update, but also one final economic and fiscal update in June right before the election campaign. There will probably be a very brief update to our April report sometime in June before the House rises for the summer.
Louis-Saint-Laurent, CPC
That is your intention or that is actually what you are going to do?
Parliamentary Budget Officer, Office of the Parliamentary Budget Officer
It is my intention, but it's still early days, so I can't say for sure that I'm going to do it. Can you give me a few days to get back to you on that? Let's say it is my firm intention to do it.
Louis-Saint-Laurent, CPC
Very good.
Just in terms of a short history, Mr. Chair, I played in that movie when I was at the provincial level, and I can say that I was the key man who said, “You should do that.” I was the one who tabled that when I was in the National Assembly.
It was six years ago under the PQ government. We worked quite well on those issues, the opposition and the government, and worked hand in hand to make some changes in electoral reform. We also implemented that we would have a neutral platform on which to base the economic framework for each and every party. We have seen that at the provincial level in Quebec and in provincial relations in Quebec. Just a few weeks before the start-up of the election, the PBO in Quebec tabled that document.
There's a question I'd like to ask you because it came up in the debates we had in Quebec at the time. Do you want to pass judgment on political parties' financial framework?
Parliamentary Budget Officer, Office of the Parliamentary Budget Officer
Personally, would I want to do that? I'm an economist by training, and I have been in the public service for 23 years, so of course I have an opinion on that. Can I actually do that under the enabling legislation though? I don't think so.
My mandate is limited to estimating the cost of the parties' election promises when they ask me to do so, along with certain parts of their platforms. It's not my job to criticize or judge any political party's financial framework.
Louis-Saint-Laurent, CPC
That's a very good answer. In my opinion, it's not something that should be done. Providing information about public finances gives all parties the same accurate information on which to base their financial framework. That information is undisputed and indisputable because you provide accurate information. If you were to go so far as to pass judgment on a particular party's financial framework, that would not be minor interference in the electoral process; it would be major. If you were to say something good about party A, you can be sure party B will say you're wrong, and the politicking over that would be never-ending.
Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Conservative
Jean Yip Scarborough—Agincourt, Lib.
Thank you for coming. Congratulations on your new position.
Parliamentary Budget Officer, Office of the Parliamentary Budget Officer
Thank you.
Scarborough—Agincourt, Lib.
Will all the cost estimates of any election campaign proposals be completed prior to the general election?
Parliamentary Budget Officer, Office of the Parliamentary Budget Officer
That's a very good question. I wish they were, but it will depend on a couple of factors: number one, the number of requests that will be addressed to me in my office and, number two, the timelines through which these will be submitted to me in my office.
For example, if somebody were to submit a request for costing an electoral commitment two weeks before the election and it's something that's very complex, it's unlikely to be completed on time for the election. If all the requests come in at the start of the 120 days as set in legislation—if all the requests come in on June 22 or 23 for an election on October 19—then chances are that the vast majority of them, if not the totality, will be costed before the election.
Parliamentary Budget Officer, Office of the Parliamentary Budget Officer
October 21? I've just shortened the campaign by two days inadvertently. Sorry.
Scarborough—Agincourt, Lib.
You can really do that for the parties and for all the members?
Parliamentary Budget Officer, Office of the Parliamentary Budget Officer
The legislation clearly states that I can do that for recognized parties and then for independent members. Members that are part of a political party will have to go through their political parties. Independent members will be able to place individual requests.
Scarborough—Agincourt, Lib.
That makes more sense. Will this be publicly available?
Parliamentary Budget Officer, Office of the Parliamentary Budget Officer
It will become public once the political party or the independent member makes that political campaign commitment public. Until such time as the commitment is public, it has to remain confidential. When it's made public, then I will make the costing and the methodology public at the same time, or shortly thereafter.
Parliamentary Budget Officer, Office of the Parliamentary Budget Officer
It depends on the specific proposal, and on the number of demands placed on my office. If it's something very simple that seeks to amend a tax rate, for example, without any other changes to any other tax parameter, it's fairly simple.
If it's an entirely new program that has not been implemented anywhere in a jurisdiction in Canada or in a similar jurisdiction, this would be more complex. We could be talking weeks. If it's fairly simple, we can be talking a matter of several days. Of course, the more details I get from the requesting party, the easier it is for me and my office to determine the cost.
