There’s no PBO: Ottawa fails to appoint new fiscal watchdog as interim term expires

OTTAWA — There is currently no parliamentary budget officer scrutinizing federal finances in Ottawa as the interim fiscal watchdog’s term expired Monday without a successor in place.

The PBO is an independent agent of Parliament tasked with analyzing federal budgets, spending proposals and election campaign promises to raise the quality of public debate.

With no budget officer installed, the office itself cannot publish any reports or accept new work requests from parliamentarians. The budget office will continue to work on existing requests while waiting for a new officer to be named.

Interim PBO Jason Jacques was appointed to a six-month term in September that ended at 5 p.m. ET Monday.

Pierre Cuguen, spokesman for the Privy Council Office, said in a media statement Monday that “the work of the office continues under the guidance of the senior leadership within the Office of the PBO.”

Ottawa opened applications for a new permanent PBO in November and Cuguen said information about the appointment of a permanent budget officer would be “made available in due course.”

He said that appointment will be based on the process outlined in the Parliament of Canada Act, which sees a new officer approved in Parliament after consultation with the leaders of all recognized parties in the House of Commons and leaders within the Senate.

Permanent PBOs are appointed to seven-year terms while interim officers, like Jacques, can be tapped without parliamentary sign-off for six-month terms.

The federal government’s “persistent delays” in appointing new fiscal watchdogs were highlighted as a shortcoming in an otherwise glowing review of Canada’s parliamentary budget office published last week by the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development.

Jacques argued at the House of Commons standing committee on government operations and estimates Thursday that it would benefit Ottawa to shift the watchdog’s mandate from the budget officer to the office itself to help with continuity between mandates.

Bloc Québécois MP Marie-Hélène Gaudreau told the same committee in French that the federal government’s failure to date to name a replacement PBO is “unacceptable” with Jacques’ term coming to a close.

Jacques’ tenure heading up the budget office started with a bang in September as he criticized the Liberal government’s fiscal track as “unsustainable.”

Later, when Liberals tabled their 2025 federal budget, Jacques said Ottawa’s debt path was broadly sustainable in the long term but argued the feds had used up some of their ability to absorb future fiscal shocks.

He also pushed for a new independent body to clarify definitions of capital spending under the Liberals’ new budget framework.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published March 2, 2026.

Craig Lord, The Canadian Press