Finance committee  That's another great question. It's very important that the parliamentary budget officer and office have a strong relationship with individual MPs, and should spend as much time as possible understanding their needs and the kinds of questions they have. The practice we put in play early in my first mandate was that when we sat down with an individual MP, there would be a discussion on the nature of the work.

Finance committee  It's an excellent question. First of all, I think it's just a good practice. I would expect that an independent officer of Parliament would be preparing work plans. As I've noted, I don't think these things should be approved by the Speakers. I could easily envision cases, even in the current environment, in which the PBO may decide to do investigations on sensitive files leading up to an election.

Finance committee  What would happen if the Speaker said no to a work plan, to the parliamentary budget officer's taking an initiative? I could answer what I would do. I'm not sure I could answer what the future parliamentary budget officer would do. It would create a lot of tension, create some controversy, and I think there would be unnecessary....

Finance committee  I agree. As I said in my opening remarks, it would be an enormous restriction on the mandate. I look back at the five years that I was the parliamentary budget officer and the work the office did, and some of our biggest files, on fighter planes, costing ships, crime bills, and costing the Afghanistan war—these initiatives all came to us from individual MPs.

Finance committee  That was a question we debated significantly in the early months. I think, ultimately, Parliament works for Canadians. When we actually do our work, and the way we release the work, we want to feel that we're also working for Canadians, but we work through you.

Finance committee  We have this discussion around whether this is an omnibus bill, whether there are parts here that don't flow directly from the budget, that don't have policy cover from the budget. Would there be a better, longer, more fulsome discussion so all political parties would be more comfortable with the legislation if we pulled the section out that deals with the parliamentary budget office?

Finance committee  There has been a significant development in the international community around building legislative budget offices or international independent fiscal institutions. The OECD has led the way. The report we provided to you talks about principles for establishing these types of offices.

Finance committee  An excellent question. I think you're absolutely right. The parliamentary budget officer has no accountability, per se, to Canadians. That accountability of holding the executive to account rests solely with individual MPs, and this committee plays a very important role. How they operate, how the requests are provided to the parliamentary budget office, how they are prioritized...

Finance committee  Obviously, a parliamentary budget officer, the Auditor General, any officer of Parliament, is going to prepare a work plan. It will be forward-looking, and as the sessions progress, initiatives will be brought forward. The parliamentary budget officer will make decisions, just like the Auditor General makes decisions on what to audit this year, next year, and in future years.

Finance committee  Thank you, Mr. Chair. It's nice to hear that the finance committee is an agreeable committee. Thank you, Chair, Vice-Chairs, members of the House of Commons Standing Committee on Finance. It is an honour to be with you today. I will be making brief remarks on Bill C-44, particularly on the position of the parliamentary budget officer.