[LINK] "Ottawa's budget made obsolete by downturn, watchdog says"

[rfmcdonald]

The Globe and Mail's Steven Chase reports that Canada's federal parliamentary budget office is coming up with economic [projections that the Conservative government doesn't like.

Canada's federal budget watchdog warned MPs yesterday that the worsening recession has rendered the Harper government's January economic forecasts obsolete, predicting Ottawa will slide $10-billion deeper into deficit over the next 24 months with near-record levels of red ink ahead.

It wasn't a message the governing Conservatives liked hearing, though – and parliamentary budget officer Kevin Page found himself facing testy questions from Tory MPs unhappy with his bleaker economic outlook.

The civil servant told a Commons finance committee meeting the recession will be “sharper than assumed” in the Jan. 27 budget – a presentation that led to tense moments when Tory MPs asked him why he didn't report any “positive stuff” and raised concerns about what they suggested were “alarmist statements.”

One senior Tory MP even chided Mr. Page for his choice of words because he used the word “plunged” in a recent report to describe a 15.3-per-cent drop in Canada's gross domestic income for the last quarter of 2008.

Chase goes on to note that the office, created by the Conservatives to provide an independent and non-political perspective, has suffered numerous problems including funding shortfalls and thr transfer of necessary documents. Imagine that.