Thursday, September 21, 2023
No Result
View All Result
  • Media
Support Us
Macdonald-Laurier Institute
  • Home
  • About
    • Who We Are
    • Who Makes MLI Work
    • Tenth Anniversary
  • Experts
    • Experts Directory
    • In Memoriam
  • Issues
    • Domestic Policy
      • Agriculture and Agri-Food
      • Canada’s Political Tradition
      • Economic policy
      • Health Care
      • Innovation
      • Justice
      • Social issues
      • Telecoms
    • Energy Policy
      • Energy
      • Environment
    • Foreign Policy
      • Foreign Affairs
      • National Defence
      • National Security
    • Indigenous Affairs
  • Projects
    • The Great Energy Crisis
    • Centre for Advancing Canada’s Interests Abroad
    • Dragon at the Door
    • Canada and the Indo-Pacific Initiative
    • The Transatlantic Program
    • DisInfoWatch.org
    • Competition Policy in Canada
    • Speak for Ourselves
    • Justice Report Card
    • COVID Misery Index
      • Provincial COVID Misery Index
      • Beyond Lockdown
      • COVID and after: A mandate for recovery
    • Indigenous Prosperity at a Crossroads
      • Aboriginal Canada and Natural Resources
    • Past Projects
      • The Eavesdropping Dragon: Huawei
      • Talkin’ in the Free World with Mariam Memarsadeghi
      • An Intellectual Property Strategy for Canada
      • Munk Senior Fellows
      • A Mandate for Canada
      • Confederation Series
      • Fiscal Reform
      • The Canadian Century project
      • Fixing Canadian health care
      • Internal trade
      • From a mandate for change
      • Size of government in Canada
      • Straight Talk
      • Labour Market Report
      • Leading Economic Indicator
  • Events
    • Upcoming Events
    • Past Events
      • MLI Dinners
      • Great Canadian Debates
  • Latest News
  • Libraries
    • Inside Policy
    • Papers
    • Commentary
    • Columns
    • Books
    • Video
  • Home
  • About
    • Who We Are
    • Who Makes MLI Work
    • Tenth Anniversary
  • Experts
    • Experts Directory
    • In Memoriam
  • Issues
    • Domestic Policy
      • Agriculture and Agri-Food
      • Canada’s Political Tradition
      • Economic policy
      • Health Care
      • Innovation
      • Justice
      • Social issues
      • Telecoms
    • Energy Policy
      • Energy
      • Environment
    • Foreign Policy
      • Foreign Affairs
      • National Defence
      • National Security
    • Indigenous Affairs
  • Projects
    • The Great Energy Crisis
    • Centre for Advancing Canada’s Interests Abroad
    • Dragon at the Door
    • Canada and the Indo-Pacific Initiative
    • The Transatlantic Program
    • DisInfoWatch.org
    • Competition Policy in Canada
    • Speak for Ourselves
    • Justice Report Card
    • COVID Misery Index
      • Provincial COVID Misery Index
      • Beyond Lockdown
      • COVID and after: A mandate for recovery
    • Indigenous Prosperity at a Crossroads
      • Aboriginal Canada and Natural Resources
    • Past Projects
      • The Eavesdropping Dragon: Huawei
      • Talkin’ in the Free World with Mariam Memarsadeghi
      • An Intellectual Property Strategy for Canada
      • Munk Senior Fellows
      • A Mandate for Canada
      • Confederation Series
      • Fiscal Reform
      • The Canadian Century project
      • Fixing Canadian health care
      • Internal trade
      • From a mandate for change
      • Size of government in Canada
      • Straight Talk
      • Labour Market Report
      • Leading Economic Indicator
  • Events
    • Upcoming Events
    • Past Events
      • MLI Dinners
      • Great Canadian Debates
  • Latest News
  • Libraries
    • Inside Policy
    • Papers
    • Commentary
    • Columns
    • Books
    • Video
No Result
View All Result
Macdonald-Laurier Institute

MLI’s Cross in the Financial Post: Clean house at the Parliamentary Budget Office

January 30, 2013
in Domestic Policy Program, Economic policy, In the Media, Latest News, Politics
Reading Time: 4 mins read
A A

January 31, 2013 – In a new op-ed for the Financial Post, MLI’s Philip Cross says the relationship between the Parliamentary Budget Office (PBO) and the government no longer serves the purpose either originally intended and it is time to start over with a clean slate at the PBO.

 

Clean house at PBO

By Philip Cross, Financial Post, January 31, 2013

Now has reputation for partisanship, not independence

If there is one thing Ottawa pundits of all stripes agree on, it is the innate goodness of Kevin Page’s Parliamentary Budget Office. It is universally painted as the underdog David heroically standing up to the Goliath of the Harper government

The creation of the PBO by the Harper government was well-intentioned: a neutral, independent source of advice on budget projections, after years of Liberal government understatement of their surpluses, modelled on the non-partisan Congressional Budget Office in the U.S.

After the Library of Parliament appointed Page to head the PBO in March 2008, relations between the PBO and the government quickly degenerated into endless quarrels over its mandate and its media profile, culminating in several lawsuits. The story is usually framed that the Harper government is to blame for this.

After reviewing the early days of the PBO, I would argue that Page’s tenure at the Privy Council Office in 2006 and 2007 lies at the heart of his fractious relationship with the government. In one interview, he described how his previous job was to get Prime Minister Stephen Harper to sign off on “everything with a price tag on it.” Because he had worked so closely with the Conservative government, his appointment immediately raised questions about the new agency’s independence. The Hill Times said Page’s selection was “only a symbol,” so the government could keep its word about increased accountability. He admitted his biggest worry on being appointed was “the perception of being partisan.” To establish a bona fide reputation for independence, Page overcompensated by being rabidly anti-government.

Independence of federal agencies is a tricky issue in Ottawa. Look at how the Bank of Canada (which nominally reports to the minister of finance) requires “the courage to take a stand” in the qualifications for its new governor. Note the alacrity with which Mark Carney took up his pen to write an article in the National Post, lauding the contribution of former governor James Coyne in establishing the bank’s independence after the latter recently passed away. Of course, there is considerable irony in Carney trumpeting the importance of independence, since his moving directly to head the Liberal party would have been a body blow to the bank’s perceived integrity. Already, some have questioned his motives in attacking the idea of Dutch disease, an issue raised by NDP leader Tomas Mulcair.

Having worked 36 years at Statistics Canada, an agency that prides itself on its independence, I have followed attentively the debates about the meaning of independence. The problem with Kevin Page and the PBO was that, to burnish their reputation for independence at their fledgling agency, they fell into the trap of reflexively taking the opposite side from the government on every issue. Page even alluded to this in an interview with Maclean’s, arguing that opposing the government’s projections was justified because “The executive is well taken care of. The question is how you close the gap for other parliamentarians.”

This is not demonstrating independence; this is a slavish devotion to an opposing position. Being independent means evaluating every situation on its merits, not the automatic gainsaying of any position the government takes, to paraphrase John Cleese. Page’s mandate was to help improve budget projections, not bolster the research capacity of the opposition.

The Bank of Canada demonstrates how an organization can be independent but still maintain a good working relationship with the government of the day. The job posting for the new governor emphasizes an inclination to “lead through persuasion.” Conversely, the confrontational style and quick resort to court action reduced the credibility the PBO could have banked from being right about some important things, like the cost overrun for the F-35 jets.

Clearly, the relationship between the PBO and the government no longer serves the purpose either originally intended. Worse, the PBO risks earning a reputation for partisanship, not independence. The former head of the Library of Parliament criticized Page for releasing a report in the middle of the 2008 election campaign, saying the timing called “into question the non-partisan status of both the PBO” and the library. Last week, the speakers of both chambers of Parliament said the PBO lawsuit about its mandate infringes on Parliament’s authority to set that mandate.

To break this logjam, his successor (if anyone can be found to drink from this poisoned chalice) should come from outside the PBO, since a bunker mentality of compulsive resistance appears too deeply ingrained in the PBO staff (Page calls it his 12-strong “band of brothers,” unable to shed his warrior demeanour for even a minute). True independence and integrity is demonstrated by the careful, considered and calibrated assessment of each new situation. It is time to start over with a clean slate at the PBO.

Financial Post

Philip Cross is research co-ordinator at the Macdonald-Laurier Institute and the former chief economic analyst at Statistics Canada.

 

—

Share this:
Tags: Financial PostPhilip Cross
Previous Post

Reuters Canada, Bloomberg Businessweek and iPolitics cover latest MLI Leading Economic Indicator

Next Post

Time to overhaul the delivery and funding of health care, MacKinnon says

Related Posts

Romanian Energy Minister, Sebastian Burduja, talks energy security with Jonathan Berkshire Miller
Video

Romanian Energy Minister, Sebastian Burduja, talks energy security with Jonathan Berkshire Miller

September 21, 2023
Canada-Japan cooperation to counter China’s disinformation campaigns: Charles Burton for Inside Policy
Columns

It’s time for Canada to implement a foreign policy reset: Stephen Nagy in the Japan Times

September 21, 2023
Covid-19, the test bioethics failed: Tom Koch for Inside Policy
Inside Policy

Covid-19, the test bioethics failed: Tom Koch for Inside Policy

September 21, 2023
Next Post
MLI: A Top 20 New Think Tank Worldwide in 2010

Time to overhaul the delivery and funding of health care, MacKinnon says

Newsletter Signup

Follow us on

Macdonald-Laurier Institute

323 Chapel Street, Suite #300
Ottawa, Ontario, K1N 7Z2 Canada

613.482.8327

info@macdonaldlaurier.ca
MLI directory

Support Us

Support the Macdonald-Laurier Institute to help ensure that Canada is one of the best governed countries in the world. Click below to learn more or become a sponsor.

Support Us

  • Inside Policy Magazine
  • Annual Reports
  • Jobs
  • Privacy Policy

© 2021 Macdonald-Laurier Institute. All Rights reserved.

No Result
View All Result
  • Home
  • About
    • Who We Are
    • Who Makes MLI Work
    • Tenth Anniversary
  • Experts
    • Experts Directory
    • In Memoriam
  • Issues
    • Domestic Policy
      • Agriculture and Agri-Food
      • Canada’s Political Tradition
      • Economic policy
      • Health Care
      • Innovation
      • Justice
      • Social issues
      • Telecoms
    • Energy Policy
      • Energy
      • Environment
    • Foreign Policy
      • Foreign Affairs
      • National Defence
      • National Security
    • Indigenous Affairs
  • Projects
    • The Great Energy Crisis
    • Centre for Advancing Canada’s Interests Abroad
    • Dragon at the Door
    • Canada and the Indo-Pacific Initiative
    • The Transatlantic Program
    • DisInfoWatch.org
    • Competition Policy in Canada
    • Speak for Ourselves
    • Justice Report Card
    • COVID Misery Index
      • Provincial COVID Misery Index
      • Beyond Lockdown
      • COVID and after: A mandate for recovery
    • Indigenous Prosperity at a Crossroads
      • Aboriginal Canada and Natural Resources
    • Past Projects
      • The Eavesdropping Dragon: Huawei
      • Talkin’ in the Free World with Mariam Memarsadeghi
      • An Intellectual Property Strategy for Canada
      • Munk Senior Fellows
      • A Mandate for Canada
      • Confederation Series
      • Fiscal Reform
      • The Canadian Century project
      • Fixing Canadian health care
      • Internal trade
      • From a mandate for change
      • Size of government in Canada
      • Straight Talk
      • Labour Market Report
      • Leading Economic Indicator
  • Events
    • Upcoming Events
    • Past Events
      • MLI Dinners
      • Great Canadian Debates
  • Latest News
  • Libraries
    • Inside Policy
    • Papers
    • Commentary
    • Columns
    • Books
    • Video

© 2021 Macdonald-Laurier Institute. All Rights reserved.

IDEAS CHANGE THE WORLD!Have the latest Canadian thought leadership delivered straight to your inbox.
First Name
Last Name
Email address

No thanks, I’m not interested.