For almost 140 years, the Library of Parliament has been a key resource for parliamentarians, providing independent, non-partisan information, documentation, research and analysis to support Senators, MPs and parliamentary staff in their daily work.

Today, the Library has five key responsibilities:

• Provide customized research and analysis to parliamentarians and their staff
• Keep parliamentarians informed and up to date, and deliver news and information that is relevant to its clients
• Supply legislators and committees with the information they need to examine the issues of the day, consider legislation and hold the government accountable
• Preserve Parliament’s documentary heritage and ensure access to its collections
• Help parliamentarians inform Canadians about Parliament and the issues before it

The Library’s expert staff understands the demands parliamentarians face in the Chamber, in committee, in caucus, in the constituency, in front of the media and as members of parliamentary associations or delegations.

The Library has an extensive research service. Economists, lawyers, librarians, scientists and political and social policy experts provide confidential briefings on detailed policy issues, conduct research for speeches, analyze statistics to support committees and gather information to assist parliamentarians on constituency concerns. The Library responds to thousands of information requests each year, from answering basic questions and fact checking to providing customized information searching. It also provides interpretive tours of Canada’s national legislature, and offers educational programs and products that help citizens understand Parliament’s role in our democratic system and the important work parliamentarians do.

The establishment of the Parliamentary Budget Officer (PBO) position within the Library in 2008 provided parliamentarians with enhanced access to in-depth independent economic and financial analysis.

As an officer of the Library of Parliament, the PBO reports directly to the Parliamentary Librarian and is a member of the Library’s Executive Committee. The PBO mandate, set out in the Parliament of Canada Act, is to provide independent analysis to the Senate and to the House of Commons about the state of the nation’s finances, the estimates of the government and trends in the national economy; undertake research into the nation’s finances and economy upon request from a committee or parliamentarian; undertake research into the government’s estimates when requested by a Committee mandated to review those estimates; and provide cost estimates of any proposal that relates to matters over which Parliament has jurisdiction.

The Library is accountable to Parliament through the Speaker of the Senate and the Speaker of the House of Commons. The control and management of the Library is vested in the Parliamentary Librarian.

The Library, together with the Senate and the House of Commons Administrations, operates in a unique, parliamentary context that is distinguishable from the sphere of the federal public service. The Library interacts directly with all 105 appointed Senators and 308 elected MPs, who demand timely, high-quality information products and services in a dynamic, politically-charged and heavily scrutinized environment.

The Parliamentary Budget Officer is an officer of the Library of Parliament. Primary accountability is to Parliament and parliamentarians. Administratively, the PBO follows the operating and procedural guidelines of the Library.

Parliament; parliamentarians; parliamentary committees, especially the Standing Committee on National Finance of the Senate, the Standing Committee on Finance of the House of Commons, the Standing Committee on Public Accounts of the House of Commons, and the Standing Committee on Government Operations and Estimates of the House of Commons.

OVERVIEW:

The PBO functions in a dynamic, partisan and often highly-charged political environment and must maintain a credible reputation with parliamentarians and federal departments and agencies, while ensuring the provision of economic and financial analysis of the highest quality. Effective and constructive working relationships with federal departments and agencies help ensure timely access to information critical to Parliament. The PBO must also foster understanding among federal officials concerning the nature of the role and its relationship to the executive.

PBO analysis supports parliamentarians in their review and approval of budget related legislation and appropriations. Thus, the PBO’s performance may have a fundamental impact on the enactment of the government’s fiscal plan and parliamentary scrutiny. The PBO must ensure rigour, precision, and objectivity in the analysis of Estimates, economic forecasts, budgetary analysis, and costing of proposals. The PBO must operate in a truly non-partisan fashion from the smallest detail in handling requests to the large undertakings related to the Budget and the Estimates. The PBO must use proven and innovative methodologies to test economic and financial models and assumptions to ensure that the financial and economic models and analyses provided to MPs and Senators are of a high quality and informative.

The PBO is expected to be proactive and innovative in developing and promoting a systematic approach to the review of expenditure estimates strategies that will optimize the time of the Committees. The PBO must adopt a parliamentary perspective when assessing the information originating in departments and agencies. The PBO also liaises with officials at the Treasury Board Secretariat to explain how parliamentarians would benefit from changes in the way information is presented. The PBO must also be proactive in reviewing expenditure proposals to identify priority issues for the consideration by Parliamentary Committees.

The PBO publicly releases analysis and information related to his/her mandate. This exposes PBO analysis to external critique and ensures the perception of the work as unbiased and of high quality. It may also have substantive impact on parliamentary debates.

As outlined in s. 79.2 of the Parliament of Canada Act, RSC 1985, c. P-1, the PBO has a mandate to:
• provide expert and independent financial and economic analysis to the House of Commons and the Senate regarding the state of the nation’s finances, the estimates of the government, and trends in the national economy;
• undertake research on the nation’s finances and economy when at the request of the Senate Standing Committee on National Finance, the Standing Committee on Finance of the House of Commons, the Standing Committee on Public Accounts of the House of Commons, or their equivalents.
• undertake research into government estimates when requested by a Committee mandated to review those estimates; and
• provide, on request of any member or Committee, an estimate of the financial costs of any proposal that relates to a matter over which Parliament has jurisdiction.

In doing so, the successful candidate will be expected to:
• Provide strategic leadership in delivering authoritative, independent analysis of the state of Canada’s economy, domestic and international economic trends, and their implications for the financial position of the government.
• Provide medium- and long-term economic and fiscal projections, and direct research and analysis on the underlying factors driving the government’s fiscal plan, interpret and challenge the economic and financial assumptions on which that plan is based, and contribute to parliamentarians’ understanding of such fiscal plans and assumptions.
• Establish effective working relationships with various service areas of the Library of Parliament to ensure the coordination of the work of the PBO in the overall support of the Library to the effective operation of parliamentary committees.
• Provide advice on ways to raise the level and relevance of discussion within Committees by recommending systematic approaches to the review of government Estimates, and identify, from among expenditure proposals, priority issues for the Committees’ consideration.
• Ensure the creation, in consultation with the Library of Parliament if applicable, of criteria and guidelines to manage requests for expert analysis or cost estimates from the clientele, and manage the relationship between the PBO and Parliamentary Committees. This includes the accordant application of the policies, protocols, and procedures developed.
• Ensure expert and strategic non-partisan support to the Senate Standing Committee on National Finance, the House of Commons Finance Committee, the House of Commons Public Accounts Committee and other committees or parliamentarians requesting research or costing of proposals and government operations.
• Establish and maintain cooperative working relationships with Deputy Heads, Assistant Deputy Ministers, Chief Financial Officers and other senior officials in federal departments and agencies, in order to gather information on proposals, the costing methodologies employed, and the structure of proposals and submissions.
• Develop, liaise, and maintain links with other international budget offices, budgetary organizations, and the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development to promote best practices, increase budgetary transparency, and enhance fiscal accountability.
• Establish methodologies and practices for economic and financial analysis that enable the effective discharge of the legislated mandate and ensure that the PBO’s analysis is authoritative and relevant.
• Manage and attract talent within a team sufficiently qualified to provide analysis and work in the PBO’s challenging environment.
• Direct the development and implementation of policies, procedures, criteria and controls to ensure the effective stewardship of assigned resources and the measurement and improvement of performance consistent with the overall accountability regime assigned to the Speakers of the two chambers and the Parliamentary Librarian in the Parliament of Canada Act.

EXPERIENCE:
• Experience leading high-level financial analysis, ideally in a public sector environment;
• Leadership and management experience in a complex stakeholder environment in a public or private sector organization;
• Management experience, including the supervision of analytical professionals;
• Experience in providing strategic advice and making decisions on complex and sensitive issues;
• Experience in negotiating and achieving consensus on complex issues among a variety of stakeholders with competing objectives; and
• Experience working in a parliamentary or legislative environment would be considered an asset.

KNOWLEDGE:
• Knowledge of the federal budget process and the federal government’s expenditure management process;
• Knowledge of the Parliament of Canada Act, the Financial Administration Act, and other federal laws applicable to the Government of Canada;
• Knowledge of macro-economic policy.
• Knowledge of the operations of the federal government, including those related to sound management principles, accountability and transparency; and
• Understanding of the Parliament of Canada and Canada’s parliamentary system of governance.

ABILITIES:
• Ability to provide impartial and authoritative advice and support to Parliamentarians on matters relating to the state of Canada’s finances, the estimates of government and trends in the national economy;
• Ability to respond to complex situations with multiple competing interests arising in a partisan environment;
• Efficient communication skills, both written and oral;
• Ability to quickly synthesize and effectively communicate complex information in clear language to non-technical audiences; and
• Ability to develop and maintain constructive relationships and facilitate information-sharing and meaningful dialogue among senior decision-makers.

PERSONAL SUITABILITY:
• Integrity and high ethical standards
• Strategic and innovative leader
• Decisiveness and sound judgment in a highly stressful environment
• Excellent interpersonal skills
• Impartiality
• Tact and Discretion

EDUCATION:
• A degree from a recognized university in a relevant field of study such as economics, business, finance, political science or public administration;
• A graduate degree in a relevant field of study would be considered an asset.

LANGUAGES:
• Proficiency in both official languages is essential

WORKING CONDITIONS:
• The successful candidate must reside in or be prepared to relocate to the National Capital Region or to a location within reasonable commuting distance.
• The successful candidate will be frequently required to work long hours

Effective communication
The PBO must be able to communicate complex ideas and issues, often relying on highly technical information, in a manner that can be easily understood by parliamentarians as they engage in public debates. Methodologies, assumptions, and analysis must all be made explicit. Each report should convey a clear message and also underscore the significance of the PBO’s findings in the broader context.

Innovative thinking
The job requires both analytical and strategic thinking. The subject matter is complex, and includes testing the assumptions of government and private sector economists, preparing short and long-term economic and fiscal projections, costing policy measures, and analyzing government expenditures. Strategic thinking is required to establish and maintain the credibility of PBO reports so that required information flows freely and the contributions of the PBO are viewed positively by all concerned. The PBO must strive to develop effective approaches and products to assist parliamentary committees in the review of estimates and government expenditures.

Leadership
The incumbent must display intellectual and strategic leadership in establishing and executing the PBO role. The position includes providing direction on the focus of analysis and priority issues. It also involves managing the relationship with the clientele and federal departments and agencies, and advancing improvements to committee processes where there may be resistance to change. Managerial leadership is also required to ensure that the supporting organization has the professional skills and capacities to carry out sound analyses and studies.

Flexibility
The incumbent faces the challenge of managing and responding to requests impartially in a partisan environment. Parliamentarians and Committee Members will have differing objectives and agendas, and competing views on how the national economy ought to be measured or managed. The PBO must also demonstrate flexibility in dealings with federal departments and agencies in terms of gaining access to their data and querying their methodologies, while fully adhering to the principles of independence, transparency, and non-partisanship that define the position.

Impact and influence
The analysis and evidence-based conclusions produced by the PBO are released publicly and will directly influence the decisions of Parliamentary Committees, Budget votes, and ultimately the national economy. The PBO will need to elaborate significant strategies to optimize the impact of the office’s contributions, including creating and maintaining relationships with a view to focusing and sustaining the attention of parliamentarians on priority issues and optimal deliberation strategies.

Listening, understanding and responding
The incumbent must be able to identify both verbal and non-verbal cues from clients, colleagues, and employees during discussions and meetings, in order to identify ways to navigate through opposing positions where deliberations stall. The PBO liaises and consults with individual parliamentarians, senior management and staff of the Library, senior officials in federal departments and agencies, foreign jurisdictions, as well as academic and private sector experts. The PBO must be able to absorb and address opposing positions. The Officer is often expected to discuss the nature, methodologies, and results of reports with parliamentarians and the media and must be able to provide a comprehensive but simple description of work produced in order to ensure that the public receives accurate information.