2024–25 Report on the Activities of the Office of the Parliamentary Budget Officer

Message from the Parliamentary Budget Officer

I am pleased to present the 2024–25 Report on the Activities of the Office of the Parliamentary Budget Officer, as outlined in the Parliament of Canada Act.[^1]

This document highlights the achievements of my team. Once again, we have carried out our role with rigour and impartiality, providing parliamentarians with independent, non-partisan economic and financial analysis in a context where budgetary issues remain central to national concerns.

Evolving public finances and new economic challenges require heightened vigilance in managing public funds. Our role is to provide rigorous, objective and non-partisan analysis, promoting budget transparency and fostering a more informed public debate.

The launch of the election campaign in March marked a significant milestone, enabling us to fully exercise this aspect of our mandate. In this context, our election proposal costing service was made available to political parties and independent members of Parliament, providing Canadians essential, non-partisan information to help them make an informed decision at the polls.

I am proud to lead a dedicated and skilled team whose work strengthens transparency and understanding of public finances. With renewed commitment, we continue this vital mission in service to Parliament and, ultimately, all Canadians.

Yves Giroux,
Parliamentary Budget Officer

Mandates

As a result of amendments made to the Parliament of Canada Act in 2017, Parliament has given the Parliamentary Budget Officer (PBO) two distinct mandates.

When Parliament is not dissolved

The PBO provides independent economic and financial analysis to the Senate and the House of Commons, analyzes the budget forecasts of the government and, if requested, estimates the financial cost of any proposal over which Parliament has jurisdiction.

When Parliament is dissolved for a general election

During the 120-day period before a fixed election or when Parliament is dissolved for a general election, the PBO provides political parties, at their request, with estimates of the financial cost of election campaign proposals they are considering making.

The PBO’s role during the period before a general election – Preparing independent cost estimates of election campaign proposals

On March 23, 2025, the Governor General dissolved the 44th Parliament and set the election date for April 28, 2025. For the third time in Canadian history, during the 2025 federal election, political parties were able to ask the PBO to provide financial cost estimates of their election campaign proposals. Although the election was called prior to the fixed election date, our Office’s work to further enhance our analytical capacity in key policy areas such as taxation, health, defence and environmental program spending ensured that we were ready to receive requests as soon as the election was called.

On March 24, the PBO released an Economic and Fiscal Baseline Projection, as well as a series of online analytical tools to help political parties build costed platforms.

Find out more on the PBO’s work during the 2025 election campaign by visiting our website.

The Prorogation of Parliament

The prorogation of Parliament on January 6, 2025, ended the 1st session of the 44th Parliament and all parliamentary business, including delaying the publication of the 2025-2026 Main Estimates.

The PBO continued to publish reports on key economic and financial matters until the dissolution of Parliament for the federal election, upholding our commitment to providing parliamentarians and the public with objective and transparent analyses to promote a better understanding of budgetary issues.

Activities

During the 2024–25 fiscal year, the PBO published 18 Legislative Costing Notes, 11 additional analyses and 35 reports, including the 2025–26 PBO’s Work Plan, the 2023–24 Report on the Activities of the Office of the Parliamentary Budget Officer, and the Accessibility Progress Report: December 2023 to December 2024.

Independent economic and financial analysis

The Parliament of Canada Act provides that the PBO may prepare reports containing the PBO’s analysis of the government's budget, economic and fiscal updates, fiscal sustainability reports and the estimates.[^2]

The PBO may also prepare reports on matters of particular significance relating to the nation’s finances and economy that are listed in the PBO’s annual work plan tabled in the Senate and the House of Commons.[^3]

In 2024–25, the PBO published 5 regular reports or analyses:

• The two supplementary estimates (A and B) for 2024–25 (2 reports);

• A report entitled Budget 2024: Issues for Parliamentarians;

• The Fiscal Sustainability Report 2024; and

• A report of the Fall Economic Statement – Issues for Parliamentarians.

In addition to its regular reports, in 2024-25, the PBO published 22 updates and stand-alone reports, some of which supplemented regular reports, while others provided analysis of specific matters related to the nation’s economy or finances:

• An estimate of the household formation and the housing stock;

• An assessment of foregone revenue from enhanced GST rental rebate on purpose-built rental housing;

• An estimate of the federal spending to address homelessness;

• A cost estimate of asylum claims from visa-exempt countries;

• An analysis of the long-term fiscal cost of major economic investment tax credits;

• An overview of Contingent Liabilities;

• An analysis of the electric vehicle availability standard: potential impacts on ownership costs and charger supply;

• An analysis of timely financial reporting: a path forward for the public accounts of Canada;

• A distributional analysis of the purchasing power of Canadian households since 2019;

• An update analysis of the Federal Fuel Charge;

• An economic and fiscal outlook – October 2024;

• An analysis of the fiscal implications of meeting the NATO military spending target;

• An analysis of personal income tax changes: the role of the elasticity of taxable income;

• An update of Trans Mountain Pipeline – 2024 Report;

• An analysis of federal spending on housing affordability in 2024;

• An impact assessment of 2025-2027 immigration level plan;

• A model for projecting the number of households in core housing need;

• An analysis of the stress testing the government’s fiscal anchor and fiscal objective;

• A distributional analysis of a national guaranteed basic Income – update;

• An economic and fiscal outlook – March 2025;

• An assessment of the impact of Canada Pension Plan Enhancements on the Public Service Pension Plan; and

• An impact assessment of the oil and gas emissions cap.

The PBO also published 11 supplementary analyses, which provide relevant information and/or additional detail related to PBO publications:

• A 2025 Election Proposal Costing Baseline;

• An update of the Personnel Expenditure Analysis Tool: 2023-24 Personnel Expenditures;

• An impact Assessment of the Oil and Gas Emissions Cap – Factual information;

• An analysis of the evolution of Canada’s social housing stock;

• An analysis of fiscal multipliers;

• An estimation of the impact of the 2025-2027 Immigration Levels Plan on Canada’s Housing Gap;

• An update of Canada’s Military Expenditure and the NATO 2% Spending Target;

• A tally of government support for EV Investment in Canada;

• An analysis of proposed changes to the borrowing authority Act;

• An information note on the distributional analysis of carbon pricing;

• A sensitivity analysis of fiscal projections to economic shocks – April 2024.

The PBO published 18 legislative costing notes (see the Appendix).

Additionally, the Office of the Parliamentary Budget Officer (OPBO) published 3 administrative reports:

• The 2023–24 report on the activities of the Office of the Parliamentary Budget Officer;

• The accessibility progress report: December 2023 to December 2024; and

• The work plan for 2025-26.

Requests for financial analysis and cost estimates from parliamentarians

In 2024–25, the PBO received 48 various requests from parliamentarians, including briefing sessions on reports, budget clarifications, informal questions as well as requests for financial analysis and legislative cost estimates.

The PBO published 5 reports in response to analyses requested by senators, members of Parliament or parliamentary committees as well as 3 legislative costing notes.

Reports:

• A cost estimate for Bill S‑230 (changes to the correctional system) at the request of the Standing Senate Committee on Legal and Constitutional Affairs;

• An overview of the composition of corporate income tax from 2018 to 2022 at the request of the Standing Senate Committee on National Finance;

• An analysis of the expansion of SimpleFile by Phone and the implementation of an automatic tax filing system at the request of Senator Percy Downe;

• An update on the Polar Icebreaker Project at the request of the House of Commons Standing Committee on Fisheries and Oceans;

• An estimate of the fiscal cost of task-based IT contracting at the request of the House of Commons Standing Committee on Government Operations and Estimates.

Legislative costing notes:

• The Online Harms Act: Establishment of a Digital Safety Commission, Ombudsperson and Office;

• Amending federal statutes to regulate activities related to elephants and great apes; and

• Amending the Citizenship Act (2024).

PBO reports cover the state of the nation’s finances, the government’s economic and budgetary projections, and cost estimates for proposals under Parliament’s jurisdiction.

PBO legislative costing notes provide parliamentarians with cost estimates of bills that are before Parliament.

During the 2024–25 fiscal year, the PBO published 35 reports and 18 notes on various topics of interest to parliamentarians and Canadians.

Every report that the PBO has prepared for Parliament, parliamentarians and parliamentary committees can be found in the reports section of our website. Reports are always published simultaneously in both official languages.

The PBO now has four hubs that bring together reports, data, communications products and other content on a common theme.

Climate Plans and Targets hub

Electric Vehicles and Battery Manufacturing hub

Defence hub

Housing hub

To learn more about PBO reports and costing notes, visit our website.

Information access

Although some of the information the PBO needs to prepare economic and financial analysis is publicly available, much of it is not.

Under the Parliament of Canada Act, the PBO “is entitled, by request made to the head of a department or of a parent corporation, to free and timely access to any information under the control of the department or parent Crown corporation that is required for the performance of his or her mandate”.[^4]

While it is often possible for the PBO to prepare an estimate of the cost of implementing a bill without having access to the government’s data, it will often be more costly and time-consuming to do so, potentially reducing the resources available to respond to other requests from parliamentarians and committees. Having access to the government’s data will often improve the quality of the PBO’s estimates and make them more useful to parliamentarians.

If a government department or Crown corporation refuses to provide access to information, the PBO can notify the Speakers of the Senate and of the House of Commons or any relevant parliamentary committee.[^5]

The PBO expects that if he were to give such notice, the Speakers, and the Houses over which they preside, would assist the PBO in obtaining access to the information the PBO requires to provide relevant analysis in support of the Senate and the House of Commons.

Exceptions

The PBO is not entitled to access information that falls under five limited exceptions:

• Personal information whose disclosure is restricted under section 19 of the Access to Information Act;[^6]

• Information protected by attorney-client privilege or by litigation privilege;[^7]

• Information whose disclosure is restricted under any provision set out in Schedule II of the Access to Information Act;[^8]

• Information that is a confidence of the King’s Privy Council for Canada as defined in subsection 39(2) of the Canada Evidence Act;[^9] and

• Information whose disclosure to the PBO is specifically restricted under another federal statute.[^10]

The PBO remains of the opinion that providing relevant and timely analysis to the Senate and the House of Commons requires access to certain confidential information. This includes the government’s estimate for the cost of implementing bills before Parliament, and gender-based analysis of those bills.

Additionally, the PBO is concerned that the exception based on Schedule II of the Access to Information Act is unduly narrowing the PBO’s access to information. There is clearly scope for improving the PBO’s access to information held by government departments and agencies.

We thank government departments and Crown corporations for the attention and diligence they exercised in providing us with the data we need to report to parliamentarians.

Information requests in 2024–25

In 2024–25, the PBO submitted 54 information requests to government departments and Crown corporations, with an 89% response rate.

In 6 cases, the information provided was incomplete or missing:

• 3 requests received partial responses, often because the information was not available.
• 3 requests received no response because the information was either not available or could not be disclosed.

Yield

Debates and committee meetings

In 2024–25, the PBO and the work produced by his office were mentioned 597 times in the Senate and House of Commons debates. The PBO was mentioned 374 times in Senate committee meetings and 662 times in House of Commons committee meetings.

The use of the PBO’s analysis to inform interventions in the Senate and House, as well as during debate and committee proceedings is one of the more visible forms of support to parliamentarians.

The PBO’s committee appearances

In 2024–25, the PBO or his staff appeared on 8 occasions before Senate committees and on 8 occasions before House of Commons committees. These figures are just under the number of times the PBO was invited to appear before committees the previous year.

The PBO’s budget assessments, main and supplementary estimates analyses, valuation of the Trans Mountain Expansion Pipeline, costing note on Bill C‑64 respecting pharmacare and analysis of defence procurement and the Canada’s defence industry are examples that demonstrate how the PBO and his staff can use their specialized expertise to support the work of parliamentary committees.

Briefing sessions on reports

The PBO presented 3 reports in 2024–25 via virtual and in-person briefing sessions to allow parliamentarians to ask questions and further explore the topics covered in PBO publications. These briefings were offered to all parliamentarians and their staff.

Online briefing sessions are very popular with our clients because they allow parliamentary staff members outside the National Capital Region to participate.

The PBO provided briefing sessions on the following reports during the last fiscal year:

1-   The Fiscal Implications of Meeting the NATO Military Spending Target;

2-   A Distributional Analysis of the Federal Fuel Charge – Update; and

3-   Household Formation and the Housing Stock.

To facilitate participation by all parliamentarians, sessions were scheduled across different time slots to take account of the various time zones. On average, approximately 20 participants attended each of these sessions. The PBO also offered briefings for the media for select publications.

At these sessions, the PBO presented a summary and conclusions of the published report and answered questions from participants.

The PBO team regularly shares report findings with parliamentarians who request them in private sessions arranged with their staff.

Outreach to Canadians

In 2024–25, the PBO continued to promote greater budget transparency and accountability by communicating his findings to the public and the media. This open and accessible approach allows the PBO to better serve parliamentarians who can speak to the PBO’s reports knowing that the public is aware of them.

Over the course of the fiscal year, the work of the PBO was mentioned over 4,700 times in the media nationwide, underscoring the relevance of the PBO’s analysis in contributing to the public debate.

Diversity, equity and inclusion

Diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) are core values of the PBO. We believe that diverse backgrounds, experiences and identities enhance our understanding of issues and drives innovation. The PBO is committed to fostering an inclusive environment where all individuals are empowered to contribute. This approach not only attracts and retains top talent but also better serves the unique needs of our staff and clients.

To translate this commitment into action, the PBO integrates DEI into our competency profiles and proactively identifies and dismantles barriers to inclusion. Our goal is to cultivate a welcoming workplace where every individual can thrive in a respectful and nonjudgmental setting.

Accessibility at the PBO

The DPB is dedicated to fostering an inclusive environment that is accessible to all, free from barriers and responsive to the diverse needs of our staff, clients and the public. Central to our efforts are digital accessibility, content usability and accommodation measures.

In December 2024, we released our second Accessibility Progress Report, marking a significant milestone in our journey toward universal accessibility and a user-friendly experience for everyone. Our work continues to enhance web accessibility, for example, by improving intuitive navigation and document accessibility.

Our goal is to ensure that all individuals can access information and interact with our digital services without encountering barriers, thereby promoting an inclusive user experience for all.

The Office of the Parliamentary Budget Officer works closely with other parliamentary entities on various projects and initiatives.

In 2024–25, we continued to collaborate with the Senate and House of Commons administrations, the Library of Parliament, the Parliamentary Protective Service and the Office of the Ethics Commissioner to pool our knowledge and work on initiatives together in a number of areas.

PBO employees participate in each of the following working groups:

• Parliamentary Precinct Working Group on Accessibility;

• Group of human resources directors on the Hill;

• Community of practice on attracting talent on the Hill;

• Working group on the labour relations community;

• Working group on the community of practice on pay equity;

• Community of practice of Hill partners – diversity, equity and inclusion;

• Joint committee of mental health and wellness champions;

• Parliamentary Security Awareness Working Group;

• Committee on updating workplace health and safety with Hill partners;

• Group promoting the Government of Canada Workplace Charitable Campaign; and

• Organizing “Take Our Kids to Work” day.

Financial information

The budget process for the PBO is established in the Parliament of Canada Act. Before each fiscal year, the PBO prepares its budget. The estimate is considered by the Speaker of the Senate and the Speaker of the House of Commons and, if approved by both Speakers, is transmitted to the President of the Treasury Board, who tables it before the House with the estimates of the Government of Canada.