The third episode of Nexus PFM’s podcast Politics and Public Finance with host Geoff Dubrow has been released. This episode is a featured interview with Canada’s Parliamentary Budget Officer, Yves Giroux.
The Parliamentary Budget Office supports parliamentarians by providing independent information and analysis on the fiscal and macroeconomic forecasts provided by the Department of Finance. The establishment of the PBO meant that parliamentarians could be more informed about the revenues and expenditures related to different programs because there was a neutral source of information and analysis separate from the government.
When the government is the only source of information related to expenditure and revenue projections, parliamentarians are at an informational disadvantage in interpreting budgetary information. Prior to the creation of the PBO, the government underestimated its surplus on several occasions. Parliamentarians felt that they had been deprived of the information necessary for a fulsome debate on how best to allocate budgetary resources from the surplus (for example, reducing taxes or expanding programs).
Listen to the third episode of the Politics and Public Finance podcast by clicking here and stay tuned for future blog posts. Make sure to subscribe to the YouTube page so that you can stay up to date on all our episodes!