Parliamentary Budget Officer Needs Enforcement Powers

Parliament Hill (Simon Hayter/Getty Images).

The ongoing refusal by federal government institutions to provide the Parliamentary Budget Officer (PBO) with information he clearly has a legal right to examine, and needs to do his analysis of spending, makes it clear that the PBO must be given the power to penalize anyone who refuses his legal requests, and to subpoena information through a quick application in court.

As well, the PBO must be made independent of Cabinet (as the Conservatives promised in the 2006 election), with a fixed term of office and protection from being fired for arbitrary reasons.

Until these changes are made, the federal Conservatives will continue to produce dishonest spending and financial statements that hide what they are doing with the public’s money.

Tyler Sommers, Coordinator of Democracy Watch

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