Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Madam Joint Chair, Mr. Joint Chair, vice-chairs, honourable senators and members of Parliament, thank you for this invitation.

I am accompanied today by Mr. Jason Jacques, Chief Financial Officer and Senior Director, Costing and Budgetary Analysis, and by Ms. Sloane Mask, Deputy Chief Financial Officer and Acting Director, Parliamentary Relations, Outreach and Planning.

As you know, amendments to the Parliament of Canada Act last year resulted in the position of Parliamentary Budget Officer being recognized as an independent officer of Parliament. The order in council of September 21, 2017, established its status as such and confirmed that its legislative mandate would be expanded to include the costing of political parties' election platforms. September 21 was also the date that marked the separation of the PBO and the Library of Parliament, which meant that the PBO had to quickly establish its own administrative processes and internal controls.

Every separation involves a certain level of risk and uncertainty that can affect ongoing operations. New legislative requirements were also introduced as part of PBO's services to parliamentary committees, senators, and MPs. These new requirements included additional administrative responsibilities resulting from the new legislation, for example, annual reports to be tabled on activities, work plans, submitting reports to both Speakers, and so on. As such, it was strategically imperative to act quickly to maintain services to parliamentarians, without interruption, throughout the transition.

Given the situation, a decision was made to negotiate with the administration of the Library of Parliament to have it provide administrative services in the short and medium term. This decision was based on the following criteria: services at competitive costs compared with other organizations; the political neutrality of the Library of Parliament; the experience it has acquired since 2005 in providing similar administrative services to another independent officer of Parliament, namely the Office of the Conflict of Interest and Ethics Commissioner; the added benefit of having a team of library managers already familiar with the needs of the Office of the PBO, ensuring that PBO analysts and managers could continue their analysis activities during the transition; the flexibility to revisit the administrative agreements after the 2019 election; and, most importantly, the option to remain as part of the House of Commons IT environment for data protection, not only while Parliament is in session but also during election periods, during which political parties may decide to submit their campaign promises, on a confidential basis, to have the financial costs evaluated by the Office of the PBO.

I am also glad to report that our 2018-19 estimates have been considered by the Speaker of the Senate and the Speaker of the House of Commons, who conducted their thorough due diligence. After which, the PBO's chief financial officer and deputy chief financial officer exercised oversight attesting our budget requirements. Our budget was then referred to a parliamentary standing committee for final approval.

For 2018-19, the PBO budget totals $7.6 million, including a total voted budgetary requirement of $7 million, as well as a statutory budget component of $600,000 to fund the employee benefits program. You will find further details in the notes we provided beforehand.

In conclusion, I'd like to say that for this year and the subsequent year, our planning is based on a voted budget of $7 million, which is due to the additional support needed for the transition, as well as to an increased number of requests from parliamentarians.

Next year's budget will also total $7 million. This is due to additional costs generated by the general elections, since it will be an election year, during which, as I mentioned, the Office of the PBO will have to cost the political parties' election platforms. Afterwards, our annual budget will stabilize at $6.5 million annually for a period of three years, until the next general elections.

Thank you, Madam Joint Chair and Mr. Joint Chair.

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