Mr. Speaker, I have had the chance to listen to a number of speeches today. What I am struggling with is the idea of greater independence. How does one measure independence? For example, we measure the freedom and independence of a free press by its ability to criticize a government and not be closed down. That is freedom and independence.
I am not sure how we would provide greater independence for the Parliamentary Budget Officer. At times, he has not only been very critical of the government, its initiatives, numbers and things like that, but his appointment is non-partisan. The list of candidates is not chosen by the government in council. The appointment is made by government in council but is chosen from a list of the Library of Parliament, which is non-partisan and unbiased.
Could the member explain how we would measure greater independence other than by the silence of the government? I think that is what her party really wants, that the government should have no opinion on the quality of the report, the information or the data. However, that does not mean greater independence for the Parliamentary Budget Officer.
Could she explain how we would get greater independence than a non-partisan appointment and the ability to criticize the government at will?