Canada’s Parliamentary Budget Officer (PBO) is one of the finest budget watchdogs in the world, but a new report from the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) is recommending that the Carney government make changes to improve it further still.
Established 20 years ago by newly elected prime minister Stephen Harper, the PBO has become a critical component of Canada’s government oversight process.
The PBO was established back in 2006 because Parliament was facing challenges in fulfilling its oversight role.
Under the Chrétien and Martin governments, government forecasts had repeatedly been far off the mark in anticipating the size of government surpluses, major programs experienced repeated cost overruns, and the complexity of information included in federal budgets made scrutiny by Parliamentarians quite difficult.
Thus, the PBO was born.
In its early years, the PBO struggled with its limited Parliamentary role, and was made an independent officer of Parliament to try to address those concerns back in 2017 under former prime minister Justin Trudeau. The PBO was given a new mandate, better access to information, and new areas of responsibilities, including the costing of election platforms.
Prime Minister Mark Carney has expressed interest in expanding the PBO’s mandate and resources further still, particularly as the government is currently significantly changing its budget process. However, despite Carney’s expressed interest in strengthening the PBO, he failed to appoint a permanent head of the PBO when the position became vacant last September and left the office vacant following the end of the interim chief’s six-month term earlier in March.
The PBO was rated by the OECD as the best budget officer in the entire 35-member organization. To keep it that way and ensure the PBO is positioned for continued success in the future, Carney must appoint a full-time budget chief as soon as possible and heed the OECD’s recommendations when it comes to further improvements.
Five areas outlined for improvement include leadership appointments, access to information, quality assurance, communications, and prioritization and productivity.
First, leadership is identified as a persistent issue by the OECD report. Carney is not the first prime minister to rely on interim appointments, and the OECD report makes it clear that a better process must be established to ensure that permanent appointments are made in a timely manner to ensure continuity and independence.
Second, access to information is vital. The OECD report recommends improving the PBO’s access to government data and establishing formal arrangements with relevant government departments to ensure timely and fulsome data sharing.
Third, quality assurance is an emerging issue. The PBO ought to have a more formalized peer review process to ensure the quality of its outputs.
Fourth, communications could be improved. For years, the PBO has relied on a leadership-driven approach to media engagement, with the head of the PBO often appearing in the media. Nonetheless, the OECD report recommends better equipping PBO staff with media training to ensure the PBO’s media engagement isn’t so top heavy.
Finally, with growing demand for the PBO’s expertise, the OECD report recommends prioritizing where to allocate its strained resources, ensuring the PBO’s focus remains on where it can make the most impact.
With Canada entering an era of shifting trade dynamics, persistent deficits, and the need to restore the state of public finances, the PBO is needed now more than ever before. The Carney government should look closely at the OECD’s recommendations for how to improve the PBO’s operations and act quickly.
Especially given the Carney government’s recent dramatic shifts in how Canada’s budgeting process operates – from cutting the budget into operating and capital categories to shifting budget timing to the fall from the spring – a strong and reliable PBO is needed to oversee the government’s actions.
If Carney is truly serious about reforming Canada’s budget process for the better, he must take an interest in the future wellbeing of the PBO. And that means enhancing its role and power, not sidelining it.
Jay Goldberg is the Canadian Affairs Manager at the Consumer Choice Center. He previously served as the Ontario Director at the Canadian Taxpayers Federation and a policy fellow at the Munk School of Public Policy and Global Affairs. Jay holds a Ph.D. in Political Science from the University of Toronto.
