OGGO meeting 23 · 2026-01-27 — Committee Evidence — LegisWatch

Summary

The House of Commons Standing Committee on Government Operations and Estimates (OGGO) met to study the Main Estimates and the government's fiscal outlook, hearing from Jason Jacques, Interim Parliamentary Budget Officer, along with Diarra Sourang and Caroline Nicol from the Office of the Parliamentary Budget Officer (PBO).

Jason Jacques presented an administrative update, noting that the OECD will publish its first external review of the PBO and that the office has published a new policy on report revisions and a forthcoming communications strategy. He highlighted that the International Monetary Fund's recent report echoed PBO concerns about the government's broad definition of capital and the abandonment of a debt-to-GDP fiscal anchor, and he encouraged parliamentarians to monitor the government's progress on implementing IMF recommendations.

Diarra Sourang explained that of the government's $1-trillion investment figure, only $41.3 billion is tied to new measures in budget 2025, with the rest linked to pre-existing programs. She noted that the PBO's estimate of net new total investment generated is $126 billion, based on historical cost-sharing ratios, and that the government's implied ratio of $8 in private investment for every $1 of federal spending is more optimistic than the PBO's historical finding of $4. She added that the PBO has no current estimate of how much of the $1 trillion will actually materialize.

Caroline Nicol reported that all 83 organizations subject to the comprehensive expenditure review responded to PBO information requests, but the level of detail varied widely. She noted that three departments—the Canada Revenue Agency, Library and Archives Canada, and Parks Canada—did not disclose information beyond what was already publicly available, citing human resource sensitivities, a justification the PBO considers legally insufficient.

During the meeting, the committee agreed to a motion to conduct a subject matter study of Bill C-15, focusing on specific clauses, and to invite relevant ministers and officials to appear.

AI-generated summary — may contain errors; verify against the official evidence.

Witnesses · 3

Jason Jacques

Interim Parliamentary Budget Officer, Office of the Parliamentary Budget Officer

Opening remarks

Thank you, Mr. Chair and members of the committee, for the invitation to appear today. I am pleased to present our recent analysis to Parliament and to provide you with a brief administrative update. I am joined by colleagues who contributed to this work. Since my last appearance before this committee, the Office of the Parliamentary Budget Officer has continued to deliver on its mandate to support Parliament by providing independent, non-partisan analysis of the government's spending plans and fiscal outlook. We have published eight reports directly related to budget 2025 and matters under consideration by Parliament. This includes an initial assessment of the government's planned spending reductions as part of the comprehensive expenditure review and of the $1‑trillion investment commitment in budget 2025. Before turning to your questions on these reports, I wanted to first provide an administrative update and follow up on our budget 2025 issues report. In the coming weeks, the OECD will publish its first external review of Canada's parliamentary budget office. I commissioned this review last September. The review assessed our institutional framework, operational practices…

Full testimony ↗

Diarra Sourang

Director, Economic Analysis, Office of the Parliamentary Budget Officer

Opening remarks

That is correct, yes. Basically, what we tried to do in this report is understand where the $1-trillion figure is coming from. Starting from the federal government commitment to support the industries and investors to the tune of $280 billion, we found that of that $280 billion, one finding was actually $285 billion. The $280 billion is a rounding. You will see me mentioning the $285 billion, but it's really a rounding. Of the $285 billion, approximately $41 billion is associated with new measures from budget 2025, and the remaining amount is related to measures that were in place prior to the publication of the budget.

Government Operations and Estimates

Summary

Witnesses · 3

Bills mentioned