Fund me or axe me, parliamentary budget officer says
At odds with Finance Department
Last Updated: Tuesday, November 3, 2009 | 12:07 PM ET
CBC News
Parliamentary budget officer Kevin Page told a Commons committee his office needs more money to fulfil its mandate to provide independent analysis of the national finances. (Fred Chartrand/Canadian Press)Parliamentary budget officer Kevin Page says he will recommend the government shut down his operation of monitoring Ottawa's financial performance if he does not get more resources to do the job.
Page told the House of Commons finance committee he still has not been told whether his annual budget will increase to $2.8 million, which he says he needs to do his work. His office had a budget of $1.8 million in the past fiscal year.
He said several of his staff members are on loan from other departments, and if he doesn't receive a critical mass of qualified personnel he will recommend closing the office.
Page's appearance before the committee Tuesday came a day after his office released its latest assessment of the Finance Department's fiscal and economic estimates. His department projected that deficits will accumulate to a total of $167.4 billion over the current 2009-10 fiscal year and the following four years, and it predicted the annual budget shortfall would still be $19 billion in 2013-14, even after an expected economic recovery.
This was at odds with the government's forecast that Ottawa will be within $5.2 billion of a balanced budget in 2013-14.
Infrastructure spending questioned
Page also took a swipe at Ottawa's infrastructure spending. He said the federal bureaucracy has been slow to give him information, but the data he has received indicates the government may not be able to spend all the money it has set aside to stimulate the economy. He suggested that Ottawa should extend the deadline so stimulus can be delivered.
Infrastructure Canada responded last week to Page's request for spending details by delivering three boxes filled with 4,476 papers, a move criticized by NDP MP Thomas Mulcair as "an old lawyer's trick to bury your opponent in information."
The parliamentary budget office was created in 2006 and Page was appointed as the first person to head the office in March 2008, with a mandate to provide independent analysis on the state of federal finances.
He has since clashed repeatedly with the Finance Department over both its estimates of deficits and his inquiries into spending programs.
With files from The Canadian Press
