Canada’s ‘Naive’ Budget Officer Says He Won’t Seek New Mandate
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Canada’s parliamentary budget officer, Kevin Page, who’s clashed with Prime Minister Stephen Harper over fiscal forecasts and said his office needs more independence, won’t seek an extension of his five-year mandate when it expires in 2013.
Page said he wants lawmakers to amend the rules that govern his office, removing it from the auspices of the Library of Parliament, the legislature’s research arm. Page also wants lawmakers, not the prime minister, to have the power to appoint and fire the budget officer.