Kevin Page questioned government spending.

The retirement of parliamentary budget officer Kevin Page could be the beginning of the end; according to his own prediction, the next PBO will also be the last.

Before the election that vaulted Prime Minister Stephen Harper into a majority government, the concept of accountability was politically popular and seemed to resound with voters. As a result, the Harper government campaigned on a promise to create the role of Parliamentary Budget Officer, a post that would oversee how the government calculated their financial statements to ensure transparency. Their mistake was hiring someone who thought they were serious.

Kevin Page spent over a quarter of a decade in the public service in various roles within departments such as Finance Canada and Human Resources and Social Development Canada. His background in public service was undoubtedly a factor in Page landing the newly created position, but his commitment to the mandate of accountability was something the Conservatives apparently hadn't counted on.

Within his first year as budget officer, Page released a report on the actual cost to the taxpayers of Canada's involvement in Afghanistan. The Harper government had released a report claiming expenses would not exceed $8 billion, yet Page pegged the number closer to $18 billion or more, based on documentation he was unable to access. Not a year later, the federal government was cutting the oversight of the office of the Parliamentary Budget Officer, along with their budget.

The most recent example of Page's work comes in the cancelled order for over 50 F- 35 fighter planes. Initial estimates by the government put the F-18 Hornet's replacements at a total cost of $9 billion... until Mr. Page did the math with a little thing called a calculator and came to the nice round number of a whopping $30 billion. Since his announcement, the numbers calculated by the PBO have been independently confirmed and the F-35 order has been cancelled.

Beyond his ‘controversial' reports, in that they conflicted with the Feds' reports (and also happened to be right), Page has had to deal with remarkable adversity from the government that hired him. Finance minister Jim Flaherty and minister of foreign affairs John Baird have attacked the PBO for overstepping his mandate by holding them accountable. It's worth mentioning that the position of Parliamentary Budget Officer is now open for applicants, at a salary level considered laughable for the job.

The response to Page while he was in office says more about the current government than it does about him. From day one it was clear that he had no qualms about the function of his office and was unwilling to pull punches no matter how unpopular it might be with the Feds. The future of the office is in question, but Canadians need to be aware that the question is not whether the office should exist; the question is how the Feds can get rid of it quietly. It's just one more way for Canadians to know what their government is up to that won't be around much longer.
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