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(Bloomberg) — Annette Ryan will become Canada’s fourth parliamentary budget officer, an independent watchdog of government finances, after parliament approved her appointment on Tuesday.
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“Ryan is a senior public servant with more than 30 years of experience in economic analysis, fiscal policy, taxation and public finance,” Prime Minister Mark Carney said in a statement Wednesday. “Her work will serve to raise the quality of parliamentary debate and promote greater budget transparency and accountability.”
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She was most recently the chief financial officer of Canada’s anti-money laundering supervisor.
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The appointment follows the interim leadership of Jason Jacques, a longtime employee of the PBO, who had called the federal government’s fiscal plans “unsustainable” and “stupefying” before ultimately walking back some of his sharpest criticisms.
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In November, Carney’s first budget showed a major increase in expenditures, including a ramping up of defense spending and planned outlays for so-called major projects and housing.
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The government has estimated a C$65.4 billion ($48 billion) deficit this fiscal year, as Carney aims to spend heavily on defense and infrastructure while cutting taxes. In the November budget, the government said the outlays would push its net debt-to-gross domestic product ratio to 43%.
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Carney and Finance Minister Francois-Philippe Champagne have also started trimming public service expenditures, part of the government’s bid to “spend less and invest more.”
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The new budget watchdog will be tasked with parsing the new accounting framework championed by Carney, which splits federal government expenditures into capital and operating spending. Carney has pledged to balance the latter against revenues.
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The International Monetary Fund has lauded Canada’s fiscal position relative to its peers and said Canada has the fiscal room to run deeper deficits to boost the productive capacity of the economy. Champagne will release a mini-budget outlining the country’s finances on April 28. Upward revisions to the country’s GDP data are likely to improve some debt and deficit metrics.
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