Finance committee  We might refuse to do some studies because they are not part of our mandate. For example, we had requests that were more to do with provincial economic matters. As we do not cover provincial economic matters as such—that is not one of the federal government's activities—we therefore refused.

Finance committee  We worked for three years on a request from a parliamentarian—a senator to be precise—about the tax gap. It covered all aspects of the tax gap, not just tax havens. It focused on everything that the Canada Revenue Agency does not receive and should receive as revenue. Because of a lack of data—we had discussions with the department that were not always productive—we gave up on the idea as soon as the senator dropped his question.

Finance committee  I cannot say whether we support the process or not. The CRA officials presented their methodology to us. We worked in close cooperation at one stage because a request had been received and we had encouraged the agency to work with us. The person who asked the question, a senator, encouraged the agency to work with us.

Finance committee  That is a good question. It has been defined in Great Britain and in the United States. Why have we not done it? I do not know. I really do not have a good answer for you.

Finance committee  I am sure that he has one, but I do not believe he will want to share it.

Finance committee  We have 16 analysts and two administrative assistants.

Finance committee  That is an excellent question. It is part of our exploratory discussions. Let me give you an example. When considering an independent organization like the Parliamentary Budget Office, the International Monetary Fund says that, in a Parliament of the size of Canada’s, just to analyze expenses, you need 20 or so people.

Finance committee  I don't know if there's an appeal. It's a matter of negotiation. We—

Finance committee  The question is, as you said.... You've quoted the act exactly, so it is what it is. On the negotiations, we don't often say no, but we will say, for example, “Listen, for this project we are overwhelmed right now; we're swamped with other requests; we follow the order of priorities, and therefore we have to postpone.”

Finance committee  I also gave the example of the Netherlands; they do not have a legislative mandate, but they began to work in that way in 1986. However, I would say that it is not the best example, given that they have a parliamentary system that is quite different from ours. In a country with 10 political parties, it is a little easier to come up with calculations, because everyone wants to do it.

Finance committee  There have indeed been preliminary, exploratory discussions to determine what we do, what our current mandate is and how that could be extended, especially in terms of assessing election platforms, which is quite an important mandate. That requires resources, but it also requires some discipline on the part of the political parties and the Parliamentary Budget Officer.

Finance committee  The three topics that were election promises have been discussed. In presenting the possible scenarios, we did not provide legislative terms, we provided a form of wording for them. Within the Library of Parliament, the PBO is independent, but not in the way that is understood in the act.

Finance committee  With difficulty sometimes. As I mentioned with respect to private members' bills, it's always the materiality of a request. If it's financially important, and there is some important interest for debate, we will look at the topic. Materiality is not necessarily a fixed amount of dollars.

Finance committee  If you read the lines, not between the lines, of our report, you can see that we did not describe it. We indicated the results for 2020. We talked about the impact of this measure if it is maintained. There would be 1,240 fewer jobs in Canada. In terms of the impact on the GDP as such, the actual GDP would be reduced by $300 million.

Finance committee  It means $300 million less for the GDP, which is 0.015%. That's relatively minimal. You can find it in our report.