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GOLDSTEIN: Wanted: A watchdog, not a lapdog, of Liberal spending

Yves Giroux says the prime minister is deliberately 'silencing' the PBO

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Within the massive federal government bureaucracy, there are only two independent offices that can be relied upon to give Canadian parliamentarians and taxpayers objective, independent, non-partisan evaluations of government spending.  

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One of them is the auditor general.  

GOLDSTEIN: Wanted: A watchdog, not a lapdog, of Liberal spending Back to video

The other is the parliamentary budget officer (PBO) and, according to former PBO Yves Giroux, Prime Minister Mark Carney is deliberately “silencing” the PBO by refusing to name his permanent replacement.  

In an extraordinarily blunt interview with The Hill Times, in language seldom used by a public servant, Giroux said the Liberal government’s refusal to name a new PBO is “in effect silencing an agent of Parliament and preventing the office from fulfilling its mandate,” adding, “It’s clear to me that it is a conscious decision to have the PBO quiet, or to ensure the institution is quiet for some time.”  

Conservative MP and Treasury Board critic Stephanie Kusie agreed that the delay appears to be deliberate, noting the government’s recent tabling of its 2026-27 main estimates, calling for over $500 billion in spending.  

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With the permanent position unfilled since his term expired in September 2025, and that of interim PBO Jason Jacques’ six-month term ending March 2, Giroux said, “The office cannot answer MPs’ or committees’ requests and they cannot publish anything. So, de facto, it means that, for parliamentarians, the office is shut down and it means the same thing for the media and Canadians, because the longer the position remains empty, the longer the PBO or the office cannot publish anything.”  

Federal budet watchdog’s role is critical

From my experience, Giroux was invaluable in explaining the economic implications of the Liberals’ now-abandoned consumer carbon tax, by reporting that, like any tax, it would have a negative impact on the economy, despite the incessant cheerleading from the Liberals that it was all upside and no downside.  

Giroux’s reports documented that while the fiscal impact of the consumer carbon tax — meaning dollars in and dollars out — would leave most Canadian households receiving more in rebates than they paid in carbon taxes, when one factored in its negative impact on the economy, the reverse would be the case and most households would receive less in rebates than they paid in carbon taxes.  

For making this simple, logical point and explaining his reasoning, Giroux was relentlessly attacked by the Liberals, even as they simultaneously cited his findings on the fiscal impact of the consumer carbon tax to bolster their arguments in favour of it.  

Other reports by Giroux critically examined the growth in size and cost of the public service under the Liberals, the abandonment of their own fiscal guardrails, their lack of transparency and delayed reporting of public finances, and the financial impact of government subsidy programs such as the billions of taxpayer dollars they earmarked for Canada’s electric vehicle sector.  

Giroux wasn’t popular with the Liberal government and he wasn’t supposed to be.  

Nor was his interim successor, Jacques, who at one point apologized for saying the state of federal finances was shocking,” “alarming,” “stupefying” and “unsustainable” — which he subsequently acknowledged was an overstatement — even though many taxpayers agreed with him.  

What’s important is that the next PBO treats his or her job as that of being a watchdog and not a lapdog of government spending.  

The Carney government, responsible for naming the next PBO in consultation with the opposition parties, told The Hill Times that information about the appointment of the next PBO will be announced in due course.   

So far, it’s been taking its time.  

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