Public Accounts committee  Yes.

Public Accounts committee  That is what I intend to do.

Public Accounts committee  Sir, if I may speak to whether this would be my report or the Prime Minister's report, the Parliamentary Budget Officer will be releasing reports, and they will be reports of the Parliamentary Budget Officer.

Public Accounts committee  What we will try to do, sir, is to ensure that people understand the range of assumptions that are underlying those economic forecasts and what they mean in fiscal planning terms. I don't think anybody has, as you know, sir, a perfect crystal ball, whether you look at errors of p

Public Accounts committee  Sir, I think the credibility of the Parliamentary Budget Officer will come from our ability to provide comprehension of what is involved in those economic forecasts and how it implicates the fiscal framework. The more we bring anything to the table, in terms of a better understan

Public Accounts committee  The Department of Finance, as you know, sir, actually in terms of forecasting and establishing a fiscal framework, takes an average of 20 private sector economic forecasts. We will have access to that information, so we'll be able to look at those ranges. The Department of Financ

Public Accounts committee  I think, sir, there are probably even officials in the Department of Finance who disagree with other officials in the Department of Finance over forecasts.

Public Accounts committee  That is an excellent question. I will have to allocate my budget between permanent and temporary resources. We'll be looking at that over the next few months. It's a similar question to the one raised previously by a member here, in terms of what our priorities will be. We'll b

Public Accounts committee  Yes. It would be important that our level will be set at top secret or secret. I could say that of the two directors we've hired already. Mr. Khan has a top secret clearance, and Mostafa Askari has also worked in the fiscal environment at the Department of Finance, which has si

Public Accounts committee  We will look at it. I thank you for this question. We would have to hire people able to provide the required services. I was at the assistant deputy minister level in the public service. Mr. Khan was at a director general level. So our two directors will be at a director gen

Public Accounts committee  Thank you for the question, Mr. Williams, and for your expression of goodwill in terms of my having that opportunity to work with you. In terms of looking ahead at those two sorts of milestones and the role the Parliamentary Budget Officer will play in regard to those milestones

Public Accounts committee  Thank you for your question, Mr. Lussier. It would be impossible for us to have a budget equal to that of the Congressional Budget Office. We have a budget, a status quo budget of about $2.7 million. I believe the budget of the Congressional Budget Office is upwards of $50 mill

Public Accounts committee  Our resources are part of the estimates of the Library of Parliament and will be established in that kind of context. The issue of resourcing came up at the two previous meetings. Concerns have been expressed, sir, as to whether or not there are sufficient resources. I think at t

Public Accounts committee  Thank you for the question, sir. First of all, I'll just comment about the reputation of the Congressional Budget Office: it is stellar. It is a highly used institution, perhaps even a model that we can aspire to, even though it exists within a very different system, a congressi

Public Accounts committee  Thank you for the question, sir. In terms of the capacity we'll need and how we will go about putting this capacity in place, as I said, the first phase is the consultation phase. It's really important that we take full opportunity for these types of meetings and have opportunit