One month and two reports into his new job, Parliamentary Budget Officer Jean-Denis Fréchette is trying to distinguish himself from his predecessor, Kevin Page.
“I’m not Mr. Page. I’m Jean-Denis Fréchette, with an accent on my name and an accent in what I say. We are different people,” he told reporters Thursday, after publishing his second report this week.
“I’m just a different person. (It’s) a new era.”
Fréchette acknowledged he has big shoes to fill, but said the transition has so far been “very good. Interesting.”
While trying to establish his own voice, Fréchette said he is also looking to maintain some sort of stability within his office.
“Continuity is my first priority,” he said. “Number two is to consult with parliamentarians to see if they have something to say about the office.”
The last consultation was five years ago, when Page, Canada’s first-ever parliamentary budget officer, was settling into the job.
Read more: Page warns Frechette of ‘difficult job’
Page was famously at constant odds with the government, never backing down from questioning spending estimates and never apologizing for ruffling feathers.
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When Page wrapped up his five-year term in March, he left behind a year-long struggle to have the government release information necessary to perform an analysis of the deep cuts revealed in the 2012 budget. Critics, including members of the Conservative party responsible for creating Page’s office, said the information he was seeking went beyond his mandate.
Days into his appointment, Fréchette said it didn’t look like he’d have any more luck than Page. He told NDP leader Tom Mulcair, who had requested the analysis, all avenues available for obtaining the data had been exhausted.
Now, Fréchette said he’s looking at the options he has to define his mandate.
“We need this discussion. And as I said, on day number three (in the office) I was already engaging in these kinds of discussions,” he said.
In April, a Federal Court judge ruled the PBO is legally entitled to free and timely access to financial economic data.
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