The Office of the Parliamentary Budget Officer has requested data 360 times since the Conservatives created it in 2006.
The Parliament of Canada Act decrees the office must have “free and timely access to any financial or economic data” it needs to fulfil its mandate.
But the government has refused to hand over some or all of the requested data in 170 cases, said the office.
In 125 cases, government claimed the information was outside of the parliamentary budget officer’s mandate. In another 22 cases, the government provided no response whatsoever.
Other exemptions the government cited include national security, privacy and, in six cases, cabinet confidentiality.
Stymied, the parliamentary budget officer has resorted to filing access to information requests. But the results there have been no better.
Out of 22 access to information requests, the parliamentary budget officer has received all the information it sought only three times. A further 11 requests are still being processed.
“In some cases, it’s very difficult to assess the real impact of some of these measures,” said parliamentary budget officer Jean-Denis Frechette.
In a recent report, Frechette’s office said it did not have enough data to analyze 40 per cent of government programs.
Frechette’s predecessor, Kevin Page, took the government to Federal Court over its refusal to hand over budget data.
Page was trying to analyze the impact of the Conservatives’ announced program cuts. But when his office asked departments for the plans to implement those cuts, many refused.
The Federal Court upheld the parliamentary budget officer’s right to demand information from government, although it did not order departments to hand over any specific data.
Frechette said going back to court is a possibility, but first he is pursuing parliamentary avenues of getting information.
“I’ll let you judge about that,” he said when asked if he thought it was acceptable for a government not to fully comply with 170 information requests.
The office of Treasury Board President Tony Clement released only a one-line statement for this story.
“Departments provide the parliamentary budget officer with the information that is in line with his mandate,” said Heather Domereckyj, Clement’s spokeswoman.
Clement and his fellow cabinet members frequently clashed with Page during his tenure as budget watchdog. Frechette, a longtime Library of Parliament employee, took over the role last summer.
Opposition parties have repeatedly accused the government of neutering the watchdog’s office.
“This government’s continued attacks on the PBO represent a direct attack on accountability to taxpayers and to parliamentary responsibility,” Liberal finance critic Scott Brison said Monday.
NDP finance critic Peggy Nash said she does not expect the government to start to willingly hand over more information.
“We wish him (Frechette) well in his endeavours. He’s not being quite as vigorous with his pressing of the federal government to get this information, but he has taken some action.
“We support him in that, but clearly the government is stonewalling.”
Original Article
Source: thechronicleherald.ca/
Author: PAUL MCLEOD
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