Mr. Speaker, we are all responsible to someone for something. None of us live in a vacuum where we do not have a degree of accountability for our actions and what we propose to do. The PBO has to be accountable. He or she has to maintain an arm's-length distance from the government and from the opposition. It is a fairly tricky move. The PBO is and he is not, and it takes a special person to be able to handle that. That is why the library is currently looking at bringing in someone who can fill the role of the leaving PBO.
In the House of Commons on February 7th, 2013. See this statement in context.