PBOWatch: There's a lesson here, I'm sure.
By kadyomalley - Monday, July 20, 2009 - 18 Comments
So, remember that unanimous committee report on the Parliamentary Budget Office? Turns out that the in camera negotiations played out pretty much exactly as ITQ suspected, right down to the part where it was, indeed, the Liberals — or, at least, the Liberals on that particular committee – that ultimately came down on the same side as the government on the question of whether the PBO should be liberated from the Library of Parliament.
The NDP and Bloc Québécois agreed to set aside the independence issue of Canada’s first-ever Parliamentary Budget Office for another two years when the office is reviewed again in exchange for the PBO’s $1-million budget increase, says Bloc Québécois MP Louis Plamondon.
Mr. Plamondon (Bas Richelieu-Nicolet-Bécancour, Que), a member of the Joint Library of Parliament Committee that reined in Canada’s Parliamentary Budget Officer Kevin Page last month in a report on the office, said he spoke with Liberal MP Mauril Bélanger (Ottawa-Vanier, Ont.) and told him he was ready to put the issue of the independence of the PBO aside to get the much-needed boost.
Mr. Bélanger discussed it with his Liberal and Conservative colleagues and Mr. Plamondon discussed it with NDP MP David Christopherson (Hamilton Centre, Ont.).
Mr. Plamondon said he was pleased the parties agreed to seek consensus because a unanimous report is more likely to be implemented. Mr. Plamondon said the extra $1-million is necessary for Mr. Page to do his job properly, and a dissident report could have compromised its strength.
“I have a deal and I believe it’s the best deal, the unanimous [report] will have more power for having the money and I’m sure with the money in two years we’ll be able to do another fit if it’s necessary,” said Mr. Plamondon.
The committee was divided on the PBO’s independence issue. It fell into two groups. The Liberal and Conservative Members of Parliament wanted the PBO to remain under the Library of Parliament’s jurisdiction while the Bloc and NDP wanted the office to be removed from the Library of Parliament and made independent.
[...]
The controversial report released by the Joint Library of Parliament Committee had observers wondering why members of the four parties, in the House and the Senate, had decided to “shackle” the outspoken budget officer.
Academics, media and Parliamentarians criticized the report because it tied the increase in PBO’s budget to all its recommendations.
The committee said it’s up to the Parliamentarian or committee to decide if reports produced by the Parliamentary Budget Office will be publicly released and said the PBO can’t release reports during election campaigns.
Mr. Page told The Hill Times he was “very disappointed” by the report and admitted his message to strengthen the office’s transparency and accountability didn’t get across to Parliamentarians. Mr. Page also said his office would not be able to produce confidential costing reports. [...]
With the opposition parties divided, the NDP and the Bloc Quebecois really didn’t have much choice; getting the rest of the committee to sign on to a recommendation to restore the PBO’s budget was likely the best deal they could get, under the circumstances.
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Darling Buds of … Page? Maybe not: Liveblogging the Library of Parliament committee
By kadyomalley - Thursday, March 26, 2009 at 11:28 AM - 10 Comments
ITQ will confess right here and now that she has no idea what to expect from today’s meeting, but since the NDP made such a big deal about it at Finance yesterday afternoon, we couldn’t very well skip out on our PBOWatching duties, now could we?
11:48:48 AM
Okay, so a quick note before we start: if I should fail to show up for my usual Thursday afternoon parliamentary duties, seemingly disappeared without a trace, send the search party to East Block, where I will surely be found wandering the halls of the third floor – just follow the string and call me Ariadne.
That said, I do, once again, have to confess my deep love for this particular building, which is by far the most spectacular of the Blocks, architecturally speaking. If you ever do the Parliament Hill tourist circuit, make sure to add this building to your list of must-sees — right after the Library.That wasn’t even intentional, but what a perfect segue that was to the issue at hand – the Libary of Parliament, that is, and its eponymous committee, which is about to hear from the consultant hired by Parliamentary Librarian William Young to provide advice on how to deal with the Parliamentary Budget Office. Or, more precisely, with the current Parliamentary Budget Officer: the one and only Kevin Page.
11:55:49 AM
Well, that was fast — citing her ingrained schoolteachering ways, the chair – Sharon Carstairs – just gavelled the meeting into existence.11:57:46 AM
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In case you couldn't bring yourself to read the liveblogging of the Library of Parliament committee …
By kadyomalley - Thursday, May 15, 2008 at 2:31 PM - 0 Comments
I should point out that it actually turned out to be far more interesting…
I should point out that it actually turned out to be far more interesting than expected – newsworthy, even – when the head librarian – the Librarian himself, William Young – implored the committee to do whatever it can to ensure that the next round of amendments to the Copyright Act (which, incidentally, have been languishing on the Order Paper for months because the government is pretty well resigned to the fact that the bill is doomed) include a fair use exemption for the Library of Parliament, so that it won’t be stifled from providing necessary services to parliamentarians. In fact, he even pitched a similar dispensation for all libraries. Not a bad tactic – and definitely a welcome ally for the Canadian Library Association, which has been fighting for genuinely fair fair dealings rules for years.
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Liveblogging the Library of Parliament committee. Seriously.
By kadyomalley - Thursday, May 15, 2008 at 1:18 PM - 0 Comments
11:47:49 AM …
No, I haven’t lost my mind, and no, this isn’t a parody11:47:49 AM
No, I haven’t lost my mind, and no, this isn’t a parody of a liveblog, done National Post Dear Diary style, although come to think of it, that might actually be kind of entertaining. Wait, no—there is no possible way that satire could compete with the (sur)reality of committees in this Parliament.Anyway, I’m here—early, even—and staring longingly at the tray of food at the back of the room. Technically, I don’t think reporters are allowed to graze on the cookie buffet, but maybe at the Library of Parliament committee, they’re more freewheeling.
11:51:29 AM
Not actually overheard, since it was pretty much addressed to me by a staffer: “Why is Kady O’Malley here?” Okay, I’ve been outed. I explain: I’m here to liveblog the Library of Parliament committee. Stunned silence results. No, really. Why are you all looking at me like that?Seriously, though—this committee may be treated as the punchline to a joke; it’s pretty much seen as the ultimate punishment, as far as House assignments—but the Library itself rules our world in so many ways. It’s full of researchers, analysts, experts on every topic you could ever want to know, and more. Oh, and books. So many books, and documents, and maps!
Also, I may have made a few teeny tiny comments—constructive, positive, Library-friendly comments—about how the parliamentary website drives me “bonkers” during that roundtable at Queen’s, so I’m curious to see if anyone else feels the same way.
