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earlier discussion

Parliamentary Budget Officer Kevin Page unveils his costing of the Afghan mission at an Ottawa news conference on Oct. 9, 2008.CHRISTOPHER PIKE/Reuters

Kevin Page, the Parliamentary Budget Officer, has done too good a job," John Ibbitson writes in his weekend essay. "He has repeatedly embarrassed growth and deficit predictions by the Minister of Finance, Jim Flaherty. He has exposed the true cost of the war in Afghanistan. He could, if he had the money, tell us what fighting climate change would do to the economy and the country's finances.

"But Mr. Page has also deliberately violated his legislative mandate, and now he doesn't have a friend left in town, which has made him dangerously vulnerable to an angry bureaucracy and to his political masters.

"The old order is threatened. The old order is fighting back. The Parliamentary Budget Office is in clear and present danger of being gutted."

What does this mean for Canadians concerned about the state of the public treasury? For the politicians currently in government and the partisan rivals who hope to replace them? And for Mr. Page himself?

To answer these questions, and any others you might have about his essay, The Globe's Ottawa bureau chief joined us Monday at noon ET for a live discussion.



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