Annette Ryan approved as feds’ parliamentary budget officer

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Annette Ryan was approved as the next parliamentary budget officer in a slim House of Commons vote that saw the Conservatives and Bloc Quebecois push back against her nomination.

In the end, Ryan was approved for a seven-year term as the successor to interim PBO Jason Jacques, whose term expired more than a month ago, with a 164-153 vote in the House of Commons.

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The Conservative had already made it clear that they would vote against her appointment.

The deputy director of Fintrac, Canada’s financial intelligence agency that monitors suspected money laundering and terrorist financing, was nominated by the federal cabinet last month to lead the fiscal watchdog.

Rhodes Scholar also worked in Finance Department

The longtime civil servant had previously been an associate assistant deputy minister in the Finance Department after spending time at Employment and Social Development Canada and Industry Canada, according to her LinkedIn profile.

The Rhodes Scholar also holds a master’s degree in economics from Oxford University.

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Ryan Turnbull, the Liberal MP for Whitby and the secretary of state for the Canada Revenue Agency and financial institutions, welcomed Ryan to the role in a social media post, saying her appointment was a “big win” for democracy.

“This essential role strengthens transparency and accountability through independent, trusted analysis that supports strong parliamentary debate,” he said in his post.

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Ryan says assessments will avoid ‘stark language’

The watchdog role, however, had been left vacant for weeks, leaving the PBO unable to issue reports or take on new requests from parliamentarians after Jacques’s six-month term in the interim role lapsed without a successor in place.

The decision to allow Jacques to leave the role was a major focus of the opposition during Ryan’s appointment hearings. Jacques’s blunt assessments of federal finances turned heads on Parliament Hill.

He made headlines early on in his time as the PBO, Postmedia reported, by calling the state of federal finances “shocking” and “stupefying” before walking back those comments in an interview with The Canadian Press as “totally unnecessary.”

Ryan told a House of Commons finance committee meeting last month that she would avoid using such “stark language” if her nomination was approved, but would also offer clear analysis of the feds’ spending decisions.

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