Madam Speaker, I really appreciate the member raising this question.
Let us go back a little and remember that when the whole question of the need for an independent Parliamentary Budget Officer came up, the Conservatives were in opposition. I remember my colleague the member for Winnipeg North was the finance critic at the time,
There was a great push and advocacy for the Parliamentary Budget Officer to be independent, to be able to advise members of Parliament to give a second opinion and to ensure that there was full transparency in government expenditures and operations, and we have public accounts and so on, and in the analysis that was being done.
There was very strong support for the idea that if committees are to do their job, typically the finance committee but not just the finance committee, there needs to be an independent officer who can provide that analysis. I have to say that the Library of Parliament and its researchers who provide information do an awesome job, but the focus on a parliamentary budget officer to provide that analysis was very important.
It is quite astounding that there has been this war going on between that office and the government as to what information is being received. The government is one that talks about ethics and accountability. This is probably the most fundamental thing we deal with. We are in a position of trust with public funds. We make decisions about where those public funds go and what the priorities are.
I think there were 17 boxes; I might have it slightly wrong, but a huge pile of boxes was handed over to go through them and sort it out. To think that financial records and information is being disseminated in that kind of state makes it very difficult to do the analysis that is required. It is pretty hypocritical to hear this from a government that is saying that it is very much into accountability, disclosure and handling the taxpayers' funds.
The member has made a very important observation. We as parliamentarians across party lines have an obligation to ensure that office has the mandate but also that it receives information in a manner to enable it to carry out that mandate. That has certainly been thrown into question in the last short while. It is very pertinent to the debate we are having today on a bill that is called economic recovery.