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Parliamentary Budget Officer Jean-Denis Frechette, pictured during an interview in Ottawa Sept. 20, 2013, says he is committed to delivering good analysis and good information to Parliament.Dave Chan/The Globe and Mail

After Kevin Page's high-profile five-year term as the first Parliamentary Budget Officer, many eyes in Ottawa are on his successor.

Jean-Denis Fréchette is a career economist with the Library of Parliament's research branch. Three weeks after his appointment as PBO, Mr. Fréchette sat down with the Globe and Mail to outline his early plans for the position. The following is an edited transcript of that discussion.

What kind of approach to the job should people expect?

The mission is in the legislation and you know that's really clear for me. Clear and simple. And of course I'm committed to follow that mission and that mandate that is provided in the legislation. I like building bridges, but it will not be complacent. I think that at one point you discuss constructive action, constructive dialogue and eventually – after the constructive action and dialogue – you have to go and have results. That's what I told the team. I want results. I want to provide good information, good analysis to Parliamentarians, as I did before. I did it for 27 years so that's really my vision. Continuity is really the big thing here. Parliamentarians deserve to have this kind of good work that they already had in the past from the PBO.

So continuity over all. Are there any specific areas where there might be a break from continuity? Where things might be somewhat different under you?

Maybe it's too early, but in answer to that, the PBO had an operational plan that they developed five years ago. I endorsed the operational plan – the open data, which means documents are all public. I think it's time to have a round of consultation. Part of the question is, in two years there will be an election, so we have to also get ready for this.

Do you mean the rules for the PBO during an election campaign?

Yes. I'm sure there will be discussions about that.

There was a debate on whether the PBO should be silent during a campaign. That's the kind of discussion you're talking about?

That's right. The election is another milestone in the life of Parliament.

Q: I was wondering if you could talk a little bit about the process, what's been going on for the last six months. There was some talk about the kind of extra screening that people on the final list went through. The concern was whether the government was seeeking someone who would be more friendly toward them. Can you respond to that?

The only thing I can say is it was really thorough. The Parliamentary Librarian, Mme. [Sonia] L'Heureux was very professional. It was a very professional process. I applied to other positions similar to that and it was kind of almost the same thing. Really thorough. Really professional.

But was there an extra process about trying to understand your demeanor? Did they test the candidates in terms of stressful situations, that kind of thing?

It wasn't about stress or something like that.

What was it?

It was just to see, you know, how you react to, not stress, but just how you are. Are you someone who can deal with situations? As I said before, I had a similar test before. It's not something that was outside what is the normal approach, I think.

About halfway through Mr. Page's mandate, there was a bit of a dust-up with the library about whether the reports should flow through the library, or whether the PBO itself should be free to make reports public on their own time. That kind of thing. Given that you come from the library, does that mean the PBO is going to operate more like the library or not?

The PBO operates according to the operational plan that was developed after consultation with Parliamentarians and also based on the procedures and modus operandi of the International Monetary Fund and the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development, which is, as I said before, an open concept. Open data. The parliamentarian clientele is aware of that. They know that at the end the publications will be made public. So is the communication with the executive. The communication with clients themselves is not. This is private and this is normal and I endorsed that. This is the right approach. Many other similar PBO offices around the world operate on the same kind of basis, so that's fine.

On the letters exchanged with NDP Leader Thomas Mulcair over the issue of whether or not to go to Federal Court to force departments to disclose spending cuts, have there been further exchanges with Mr. Mulcair on that?

I don't discuss the private emails or private discussions I have with the clients. This is between them and the PBO.

I gather, though, that you are not ruling out going back to court. Is that where you are at?

The question here is about Justice Harrington's opinion. He dismissed the case but he made several comments at the end of his opinion. Going back to court, it's there. It's a viable option. But as with any option, you have an alternative. And Justice Harrington was really clear. He stated some remedies and I already had discussions with legal counsel about that and going back to court, even though as I said, it's an open door, there are risks. When you go to court, no matter what, there are always some risks. And he stated some Parliamentary remedies, and one of them would be complaining to the [Parliamentary Librarian], complaining to the Speakers and so on.

I wanted to ask you about your style. Stephen Tapp – who used to work for PBO – wrote an essay for the Institute for Research on Public Policy, essentially recommending that whoever becomes next PBO should lower the temperature with the government and appear less in the media. Obviously Mr. Page was often in the media and Mr. Tapp suggested that was an irritant. What did you think of that advice and is that something you're going to follow?

So many people gave me advice – including my wife. Stephen Tapp, he's a brilliant economist and he has an inside view because he spent five years there. I read all this, but eventually, you cannot take all the recommendations. I am who I am. I'm Jean-Denis Fréchette ... My style, as I said, I will be conciliatory. That's what I am. I'm respectful. I worked for 27 years with Parliamentarians. To go that long with Parliamentarians, it's because you have been respectful and you have been listening to all of them, no matter which party they were coming from. But at the same time, I want results. I want Parliamentarians to be well-served with information and with analysis and for that, we have to develop some kind of good, sustainable approach with everybody. Everyone calls the PBO the "watchdog" but the real watchdogs of the public finances are the parliamentarians. They are elected and they have a role to play when they vote on the Main Estimates and so on. That's their role. I see myself as being in French we would say 'un vigie'. You provide information. You're there. You watch for information. You give information. You say: 'Here. Be careful. Look at this.' You do a kind of an education approach, and it's up to them to play the role that they have to play.

Q: As for your relationship with Mr. Page, do you anticipate keeping open communication with him, or is he moving on and you do your own thing?

A: Mr. Page and I are not strangers. He spent five years within the Library of Parliament. His office was about two doors from mine and all these guys who came with him, we were all together at the beginning. We exchanged emails already. As I told him before and when he left, 'I think you had to do what you had to do. It was a new office. You built an office.' Some people said he was a crusader. I think it was more to have the office known. It's difficult to do that. He did a great job in a very short time. But now it's another era.

Q: Finally, could you address the concern Mr. Page expressed – that you don't have experience inside a department working on budgets?

No matter what kind of expertise, we have to be careful not to mix the person, the function and the team. As long as the person – as the manager of the office – makes sure that the expertise is there on the team, I think this is the way to do it.

This interview has been edited and condensed.

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