Thank you, Mr. Chair and members of the public accounts committee. Good morning.
I welcome the opportunity to appear before you. As you mentioned, I'm here today with Kevin Page, Canada's first Parliamentary Budget Officer. As you're aware, Parliament legislated these new functions, creating an officer of the Library of Parliament, a position that would operate within the library's established mandate of providing authoritative , reliable, non-partisan, and independent knowledge and information to parliamentarians. For me, and I think for you as parliamentarians, the creation of a Parliamentary Budget Officer constitutes a significant initiative to strengthen Parliament's ability to hold the executive to account.
As the oversight committee for the Public Accounts of Canada, I believe that you can play an important role in making the Parliamentary Budget Officer an effective instrument for Parliament, one that complements, not competes with the work and resources currently available to improve Parliamentarians' understanding of the fiscal position of the Government.
What is fundamentally important is that a Parliamentary Budget Officer adds value to your work. As such, I know we would benefit greatly from your insights as we begin implementing new services through this new office and officer.
In fact, I might suggest exploring a consultative approach as a vital part of the Library's efforts to shape these new functions to serve Parliamentarians effectively.
An ongoing informal dialogue with members will help us deal with the questions that will certainly arise as statutory provisions are interpreted and given life through the delivery of this new service. What are the specific needs and requirements of parliamentarians? How should priorities be set in the face of competing demands?
Who better to answer these questions than the clients of these services? I hope you agree.
Kevin Page, the individual who took on the challenge of being Canada's first Parliamentary Budget Officer, started work with us just after Easter. For those of you who may not have seen his curriculum vitae, copies are available.
Kevin is one of very few individuals with experience working on relevant fiscal forecasting, policy, and expenditure portfolios within all three economic agencies of the federal government. This broad perspective will be of tremendous value to parliamentarians, and certainly, if required, to this committee.
As you will see, Kevin is a “people person” with a good sense of humor and a great reputation.
His phone is already ringing with calls from skilled professionals from both inside and outside government who want to work with him. I think this is great news for Parliament. It's also a huge opportunity for us to build the library's research capacity and to add value to the services we already provide to parliamentarians.
Thank you, again, for your invitation.