Kevin Page, PBO (Punish Bullshitters Outright)

The Conservative Government (also known as the "Harper Government") is on another campaign to discredit the numbers published by the Parliamentary Budget Officer, Kevin Page. Now, the Conservative Government is getting the Department of National Defence to do their dirty work. This keeps going on and on. The Conservatives always disagree with Mr. Page's numbers when the numbers go against the Conservatives, but almost in the same breath, say they are the ones that created the office.

If the Conservative Government wants Mr. Page to publish accurate numbers, maybe they should actually provide them to Mr. Page! Mr. Page has gone on record that when he was researching the numbers for the F35 program, nothing was provided by the government and that the Department of National Defence hadn't even made the calculations yet! Mr. Page went to the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO), as well as governmental organizations from at least a couple of countries that are involved in the F35 program to collate the info and come up with his figures. Of course, there will be a difference in the bottom line figures, as the Conservatives will defend, but they would make you believe that they are the ones that are correct. The Conservative Government have been accused of using numbers provided by the F35 contractor, however Mr. Page is using numbers from not only different sources, but from countries that have gone through many of these types of procurement programs. Who would you believe, somebody that uses several sources, or the one who uses the numbers from the company that regardless of cost overruns, will get their money? I know who I would choose to believe.

It's become obvious that the Conservative Government thought they could create a toothless tiger by creating a Parliamentary Budget Office, on their "Accountability" and "Transparency" campaign, and then underfund and severely limit the info that they provided to this office. Thankfully, they didn't count on Mr. Page being so resourceful with what was available to him and sticking a thorn in the Conservative Government's side.

I would work for Mr. Page. Not because he's a thorn in the Conservative Government's side, but because he's shown himself to be the most resourceful and ethical guy working in the government on Parliament Hill. This guy deserves the Order of Canada! Someone call Rideau Hall!