Radio minute: Stop muzzling the budget watchdog

November 21, 2025

As the top budget watchdog, the Parliamentary Budget Officer provides non-partisan, independent analysis of the cold, hard numbers in the budget, federal spending, revenues, and economic trends to help Parliament hold the government financially accountable.

The interim PBO, Jason Jacques, described Canada’s current fiscal situation as “stupefying,” “shocking,” and “unsustainable.”

He found Carney’s definition of ‘capital investment’ overly broad, inflated by $94 billion as it included items that should be classified as operating expenses.

Liberals have also abandoned a key fiscal anchor by failing to balance the operating budget over the next five years.

Not happy, the Liberals have posted a job notice calling for a permanent PBO candidate with the “tact and discretion” to communicate about complex policy issues in a “neutral way.”

It’s time for the Liberals to look in the mirror. Jacques painted a truthful, grim picture of Canada’s future by using their dismal numbers.

Their own decisions created this fiscal mess. They need to fix it instead of muzzling the watchdog.