Mr. Speaker, at the Standing Committee on Finance, when the Parliamentary Budget Officer, an independent official appointed by consensus by Parliament, issued reservations about the budget, the response from the Minister of Finance, who was in front of me, was simply to undermine the credibility of the institution, to say that the Parliamentary Budget Officer was entitled to his opinion, that it was an opinion like any other, and that what he said ultimately had little value.
The same thing happened recently in a press release where the Minister of Finance continues to undermine the credibility of an institution that is essential to our parliamentary work.
I would like to know if my colleague agrees with the Prime Minister's approach, his lack of respect toward parliamentary institutions.
Does my colleague not find that, in a way, the minister is behaving a bit like some of the people we are seeing in the U.S. administration these days?