Government Operations committee  Yes, absolutely.

Government Operations committee  Yes, absolutely.

Government Operations committee  I think it is important to have a clear understanding of the various forecasts in the private sector. Right now the Department of Finance takes an average of 20 private sector forecasts, and behind those forecasts there are some very different expectations around economic growth

Government Operations committee  I think there's a lot of focus, and fiscal planning tends to be kind of one-year out. In fact, even in the current environment, there was a lot of focus in the year past on whether or not we were going to have a surplus of $10 billion, $11 billion, or $12 billion. One of the role

Government Operations committee  I think there are different parts of the mandate of a parliamentary budget officer that would encourage him or her to look at issues around end-of-year spending. I will back up just in terms of one aspect of looking at the whole forecasting-related issue, which potentially could

Government Operations committee  I do not know which departments have been selected.

Government Operations committee  Thank you for your question. Today is an opportunity to begin this dialogue with the various members. As I said in my presentation, we have gone through various stages in developing our office. One stage involves consultations, but this will not be completed today. We need to con

Government Operations committee  I understand how you feel.

Government Operations committee  One of the provisions in the act of Parliament for the parliamentary budget officer is a provision to seek information from departments and agencies. Certainly, when working with members around this table, with other committees, and with other members not part of committees deali

Government Operations committee  It's definitely a priority for me to attract the very best people we can get into the parliamentary budget office. I think we've made a few good starts--in terms of the early hires--and I think these folks will attract other high-quality individuals as well. In terms of salaries

Government Operations committee  As you noted, there are three pillars, so to speak, with respect to the mandate of the parliamentary budget officer role. One of them is costing of private members' bills and the point that was made was in terms of trying to do that earlier, and trying to do it in a way that will

Government Operations committee  Would it be an automatic feature? As you know, sir, the Library of Parliament already works with parliamentarians in terms of looking at private members' bills, on legal advice, on costing advice, and policy-related issues. We will be working with the services that exist now with

Government Operations committee  Over the next few months, we will be working with our colleagues in the Library of Parliament who support standing committees. Together we will be scrutinizing the estimates to see whether we can simplify some of the information in these documents. We would like to do it in a way

Government Operations committee  That is a good question. I've worked in different sections of the Office of Federal-Provincial Relations. At the time, I really wanted to work in that area, as federalism was a highly significant issue. I also have experience in studying the fiscal and economic situation of provi

Government Operations committee  I would be much more comfortable if Mr. Sabourin were to talk about the process used to select candidates.