According to a source, staff will largely report to assistant parliamentary budget officer Mostafa Askari rather than Parliamentary Budget Officer Jean-Denis Frechette. While the office has, more or less, been operating this way for some time, the office will soon be making it official, the source indicated.
Askari will be in charge of deciding which studies the office launches and who works on them, as well as planning the workflow of the studies. He will also take over annual employee reviews, according to the source.
Reached for comment, Frechette insisted he remains the head of the office, where one of his top priorities is to streamline the office in order to become a more efficient service for parliamentarians.
“The decision is not about giving power to one person,” he said Monday. “It’s about having more synergy and focus.”
Although Frechette said having two assistant PBOs served the office well under Page, he doesn’t feel that structure is necessary any longer.
“Organizations change all the time,” he said. “We wanted to become more efficient and have better collaboration and better synergy … and the best way to do that, is to have one person in charge of projects.”
He and Askari will work together to determine appropriate budgets and staffing levels for projects, Frechette said.
Since Frechette took over from inaugural budget officer Kevin Page more than one year ago, he has faced difficulty attracting talent to the office. Sources close to the office say the qualified people currently in government are wary of going to an office where they will answer to someone who doesn’t have the experience in economic costing and budgeting at a senior level in government.
Last October, the office lost a founding member of the watchdog office, Sahir Khan, who decided to join Page in his new post at the University of Ottawa. Kahn, along with Askari, was an assistant budget officer to whom staff reported.
It was the first major shakeup for Frechette, who has a background in economics.
Despite undertaking a hiring process to replace Khan, no one was hired and the post was left vacant.
The office, tasked with providing independent analysis to Parliament, has not had difficulty attracting analysts, but rather senior budgeting officials from departments such as Treasury Board, Privy Council Office and Finance. Job descriptions for such fiscal experts would mirror that of the opening at the budget office, one source said.
Frechette subsequently launched an internal reorganization, which is set to become public later today or this week. The new organizational chart is expected to indicate that staff will report to the remaining assistant budget officer, Askari, who was part of the team that built the office with Page.
Frechette, meanwhile, will give a final sign-off on projects and reports from the office, maintain control of the corporate communications and speaking with media, attend meetings at the Library of Parliament, the branch within which the PBO operates, and maintain hiring and firing privileges.
Page’s successor took office one year ago and immediately walked into a storm of scrutiny and skepticism. Page was the first-ever PBO, a position created through the Conservatives’ 2006 Federal Accountability Act.
Frechette has a long history on Parliament Hill, working in the legislative branch for close to three decades. He has a background in economics, though none in developing or analyzing budgeting.
Critics accused the government of using the appointment to dilute the office after five years of Page, who consistently butted heads with the Conservative government.
Leading up to his departure, Page had tapped Khan, Askari and senior director of economic and fiscal analysis and forecasting, Chris Matier, as the top candidates to lead the office.
Of those three, only Askari remains at the office.
Upon hearing of Frechette’s appointment, Page said his successor could well be successful, though he would have to attract staff with substantial experience.
The parliamentary budget officer serves at the pleasure of the government, and so can be dismissed at any time. The Prime Minister’s Office did not respond a question asking whether it approves of the reorganization.
Original Article
Source: globalnews.ca/
Author: By Amy Minsky
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