Message to Carney: Unleash the PBO
Conservatives will make the Parliamentary Budget Officer permanent so he can hold Carney accountable.
Ottawa, ON – Today, the Hon. Pierre Poilievre, Leader of the Conservative Party of Canada and the Official Opposition, formally asked Prime Minister Mark Carney to appoint Jason Jacques, the current Interim Parliamentary Budget Officer, to a full seven-year term:
Dear Prime Minister,
Without even introducing a budget, you have managed to double the deficit. That deficit is set to be the biggest in Canadian history outside of COVID and you are trying to cook the books to hide it.
The result: you have given Canada the fastest-shrinking economy in the G7, after you promised the fastest growth, homebuilding is dropping after you promised to double it, a record $54 billion in net investment has fled after you promised to invest more.
Every dollar you spend comes out of the pockets of long-suffering Canadians, leaving them hungry and jobless. The human consequences:
- More empty stomachs. After you promised affordable food, Toronto food banks are expecting a record four million visits this year, more than double what it was in 2023; after you promised Canadians could judge you by the cost at the grocery store.
- Eighty-six thousand job losses, after you promised more jobs.
Your party caused Canada’s economic pain. And you have only made it worse with a record deficit that you are trying to cover up with crooked accounting: dividing the budget in two parts, a move roundly condemned by economists, accountants and other experts.
One of them is the financial watchdog — the Parliamentary Budget Officer — who said that your crooked accounting could spook financial markets and drive up borrowing rates. To silence the watchdog, you’ve kept him on a short leash with a term that expires in 166 days, after which you could either renew or fire him, meaning you could fire him for telling the truth.
We need a Parliamentary Budget Officer now, more than ever, to:
- tell Canadians how big a financial mess you have made, with what is expected to be a 100 per cent increase in the deficit under your watch;
- scrutinize the crooked accounting that you have promised to use in the forthcoming budget; and
- tell Canadians the truth about how money-printing deficits will again cause rampant inflation of food, housing and other prices at a time when Canadians are broke.
Conservatives are formally asking for the Parliamentary Budget Officer, Jason Jacques, to be appointed to a full seven-year term, pursuant to Section 79.1(2) of the Parliament of Canada Act.
Every dollar you spend, you take out of the pocket of Canadian workers and seniors. And they can’t pay anymore. It is time to give them the truth. Let Canada’s budget watchdog off the leash.