Canada's first-ever Parliamentary Budget Officer Kevin Page, who told The Hill Times that he will meet with Prime Minister Stephen Harper to recommend shutting down his office if he doesn't get the $2.8-million annual budget promised to do his job.

Mr. Page also says last week's late announcement of the $484,000 his office will get this fiscal year to be cash-managed by the Library of Parliament, is a "hollow victory."

"I have no problem just going to the Prime Minister and saying 'just shut this down' and don't spend whatever the budget is, $2.8 [million], $1.8 [million] to do this thing, don't pretend like we're doing the job, because we're not doing the job unless you've got the right people," Mr. Page told The Hill Times.

Mr. Page said he hasn't had any conversation about this with Prime Minister Harper (Calgary Southwest, Alta.) so far. He said he won't be quitting but without the proper resources the office cannot operate properly. He said he will also bring this up with with the House and Senate Finance committees and the House Public Accounts Committee

Meanwhile, he said the extra $484,000 the Library of Parliament was allocated in the supplementary government estimates tabled in Parliament last Wednesday is prorated over the five months left of this fiscal year, based on the extra $1-million the PBO had been promised.

But Mr. Page said he's disappointed because it's not just the money, but the people and resources he needs to be able to plan to do his job properly.

Mr. Page said there are "strings attached" to the money and despite having part of the extra budget, Parliamentary Librarian Bill Young told him he cannot permanently hire the four staffers Mr. Page has on secondment from other federal government departments. There is also no assurance that the PBO will get a $2.8-million budget in 2010-11.

Mr. Young hasn't allowed the PBO to permanently hire five employees on secondment from other departments and months ago one of them returned to the public service when his secondment ended. Two other staffers' terms are up in the coming two months, said Mr. Page.

Conservative MP Ted Menzies (Macleod, Alta), Parliamentary secretary to Finance Minister Jim Flaherty (Whitby-Oshawa, Ont.), told reporters after last week's Finance Committee meeting that he thinks Mr. Page is doing a good job with the funding he has now.

"I think that we're seeing adequate resources because he's been able to provide us with the information that we've asked for every time we've asked him to come to committee," said Mr. Menzies. "I'm comfortable with what he's accomplishing."

NDP finance critic Thomas Mulcair (Outremont, Que.) said all parties agreed to giving Mr. Page a $2.8-million budget through the unanimous committee recommendations, that "it was about bloody time" the PBO got some money and that Mr. Page also needs assurance that he can keep his employees.

"They're starving him out drop by drop, I guess it's this week's events that forced them to come up with some of the money and what they're trying to say is, 'Well, we're going to give it to him proportionately for what's left of the fiscal year,' but what it actually means is that a lot of the people who are seconded to him are still going to have to go back, because he has no guarantee that his funding is going to be consistent and full-time into the future so we still haven't solved the problem," said Mr. Mulcair.

Mr. Young wasn't available for an interview but Library of Parliament spokesperson Cynthia Cusinato wrote in an email that supporting the PBO "has come at a growing cost to other library resources" and the funding in the supplementary estimates will help offset these financial pressures and sustain delivery of services until the end of this fiscal year.

"Out of the 15 staff working for the library to deliver our PBO functions, 10 are permanent staff," wrote Ms. Cusinato, emphasizing the work of the PBO is supported by Library of Parliament staff.

"Secondments allow for ongoing flexibility in determining if the needs required at the outset of operations remain the same once the organization is up and running. Future HR decisions will be made in the context of the recommendations from the joint committee and the annual budget allocation."

Liberal finance critic John McCallum (Markham-Unionville, Ont.) said that the funding in the supplementary estimates is a step in the right direction but he has ongoing concerns.

"It's better than nothing, but we haven't yet solved the problem, because we're not assured of the longer-term funding and the other point that I'm concerned about is that he should not get micro-managed by the library in terms of who are the appropriate people to hire," says Mr. McCallum.

NDP MP David Christopherson (Hamilton Centre, Ont.), who represents his party at the Library of Parliament Committee meetings regarding the PBO, said the committee will likely meet on Nov. 19 to "review where we are and how the implementation of our report is going."

"It would be a crying shame to have successfully wrestled the big issue to the ground, meaning the money, only to see things unravel, based on details. I still remain optimistic that the members of the committee from the Senate and from all parties are committed to making this work for Parliament. Parliamentarians, ultimately, are responsibly for the Library Committee and therefore the PBO and if we don't collectively stay in control of this, then we leave it to the vagaries of the government alone and we know where that got us before, so we're out and front and we need to stay there," said Mr. Christopherson.

Mr. Page said that he feels he has met the terms and conditions put out in the committee recommendations and expects the next step for him will be to meet with the committee and talk about this and about the estimates for the coming year.

"I don't know who my friends are in this kind of process, to be honest, but I'm going to need some Parliamentarians to stand up for the office on these budget and hiring issues," said Mr. Page.

Mr. Mulcair said Mr. Young is "frustrating the will of Parliament" by standing in the way of an operational PBO and not allowing Mr. Page to hire his staff permanently. Mr. Mulcair said he thinks that by doing this Mr. Young is in contempt to Parliament.

"We're going to have to go to Parliament and I think the next move is going to have to be to call the Parliamentary Librarian to account for what is clearly insubordination, he is answerable to Parliament, period. And the will of Parliament will not be frustrated by a minor bureaucrat like the Parliamentary librarian," said Mr. Mulcair.

Ms. Cusinato replied that the Library of Parliament is "committed to working with the Joint Committee to implement all of the report's recommendations."

Bloc finance critic Jean-Yves Laforest (Saint Maurice-Champlain, Que.) said "it's a very bad situation" and he isn't sure how but his party "will try to find a solution to help and keep this function with staff who is good."

"It is a very absurd situation I think and I think the Conservatives, the government, don't take good decisions to keep Mr. Page and they said it's the [Speakers] of the House and the Senate were responsible, but I think the government has a responsibility and they don't take [it]," said Mr. Laforest.

cmunster@hilltimes.com

The Hill Times