I am quite sure, Mr. Whalen, that I'm addressing this motion.
Our motion invites the Parliamentary Budget Officer to appear before this committee. But since we don't form the majority on this committee, I want to ensure that the Canadians listening to us right now can see, through the record of our discussion, the Parliamentary Budget Officer's concerns, should you vote against this motion and should he not appear before us.
On page 4, the Parliamentary Budget Officer writes:
Parliament has established the Business of Supply to administratively manage the consideration of the new revenue-raising measures (such as taxes and tariffs), as well as disbursements of the money it collects...
This passage is very interesting and very important. According to a Rousseauist vision of life, we want to argue that many democratic actions can help to change society, but in reality, in our democracy, two fundamental actions are making progress, namely, the election held every four years, and finances, including the budget choices made by Canadians and MPs.
I think the Parliamentary Budget Officer is trying to clarify or strongly support that, under the pretext of a call for clarifying accountability for numbers, we should never set aside and forget the importance of the process of making ministers accountable for their budget decisions.