Yves Giroux, who has held the position of Parliamentary Budget Officer since 2018, said in a social-media post he feels a sense of accomplishment as he leaves the role.Spencer Colby/The Canadian Press
Prime Minister Mark Carney has appointed Jason Jacques interim Parliamentary Budget Officer for a six-month term.
Mr. Jacques was director-general of economic and fiscal analysis at the PBO and has experience working with the Privy Council Office, Finance Canada and the Bank of Canada. He has frequently appeared before parliamentary committees to answer questions about the PBO’s work.
In a statement, Mr. Carney thanked outgoing PBO Yves Giroux “for his dedication and years of service to Canadians.”
The Prime Minister’s Office said an interim appointment was made because a full appointment requires consultations with other parties and a motion in Parliament, and the House of Commons is not sitting.
Mr. Giroux announced his departure earlier in the day Tuesday as his seven-year term expired.
The Liberal election platform promised to increase funding for the PBO and said the independent spending watchdog would perform an important role in reviewing plans to change how government spending information is presented to the public.
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The party’s platform said a re-elected Liberal government would separate capital and operating spending. It said this would be part of a plan to scale back day-to-day government spending in order to spend more on longer-term investments such as infrastructure.
The platform said this would involve legislative changes “that will be supported by new powers and resources for the Parliamentary Budget Office.”
To date, the government has not fully explained how this change will be implemented.
Mr. Giroux released a farewell message on LinkedIn Tuesday to mark his last day as PBO.
“It has been a true honour to support Parliamentarians by providing them with objective, non-partisan information and analysis – made possible by the outstanding work of an exceptional team,” he wrote. “I leave with a strong sense of accomplishment: the Office of the Parliamentary Budget Officer of Canada now ranks among the best institutions of its kind in the world.”
The Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development released a report this year that ranked what it called “independent fiscal institutions,” placing Canada’s PBO at the top of the list.
“The Institutions at the top of the index – Canada’s Parliamentary Budget Office, the Netherlands’ Central Planning Bureau, the United Kingdom’s Office for Budget Responsibility and the United States’ Congressional Budget Office – stand out for their effective communications impact,” the OECD report said.
Mr. Giroux said the PBO came out on top in the global ranking even though other organizations have larger budgets and more staff.
“This recognition speaks to the professionalism, dedication, and commitment of my team to budget transparency and to serving both Parliamentarians and Canadians,” he wrote.
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Kevin Page, who was appointed the first PBO in 2008 and is now the president and CEO of the University of Ottawa’s Institute of Fiscal Studies and Democracy, said Mr. Jacques is an excellent choice for the position.
“In six months, it is a good bet, he will be the strongest candidate to be the PBO,” Mr. Page said in an e-mail Tuesday. “He is well known and respected in the budget community and amongst Parliamentarians.”
Mr. Page worked with Mr. Jacques at the PBO, the Treasury Board and the Finance Department.
“I can attest from direct experience that Mr. Jacques has very strong public service values,” he said. “As a taxpayer, I am glad that Mr. Jacques is Canada’s PBO. I applaud the appointment.”
The position of PBO was created under Conservative Prime Minister Stephen Harper through the 2006 Federal Accountability Act. Legislative changes under Liberal Prime Minister Justin Trudeau in 2017 expanded the position to that of a full independent officer of Parliament with a broader mandate to provide non-partisan estimates of election campaign promises by political parties.
Finance Minister François-Philippe Champagne has said he’s planning to table a 2025 budget in October but has not yet announced a specific date.
The House of Commons is scheduled to resume sitting on Sept. 15.