The Liberals say they’re open to amendments to the budget implementation act that would strengthen the Parliamentary Budget Officer and ensure its independence.

“The government is committed to providing greater independence to the Parliamentary Budget Officer and this is the overriding intent of legislation introduced in the House of Commons this week,” Mark Kennedy, direction of communications for the government house leader, wrote in an email Wednesday afternoon.

“Our plan is to strengthen the PBO so that it can properly serve Parliament as it considers the financial and economic implications of the matters before it. We look forward to parliamentary study of this bill, and we are open to amendments on how to further improve the proposed legislation so that it accomplishes the goal of an independent PBO.”

Kennedy’s clarification came in the wake of criticism from, among others, former PBO Kevin Page.

After a first read of the changes to the PBO’s mandate in the budget bill, introduced Tuesday, Page said he hoped the Liberals were open to amendments.

In an email Tuesday night, Page — who sparred repeatedly with the Harper government over its lack of fiscal transparency — said his initial impression of the Liberals’ legislative changes was mixed.

He acknowledged improvements but said he had plenty of concerns, too.

The former PBO included the seven-year appointment, the inability to remove the PBO without the consent of Parliament, and the expansion of the PBO’s mandate to include party platforms among the positives.

One concern, however, was that annual PBO work plans would be subject to the approval of the Speaker of the Senate and the Speaker of the House of Commons. Another is the new obligation that the PBO provide any reports to the Speakers before they’re tabled in their respective houses.

Page also questioned whether the scope of the PBO’s work will be limited by political and bureaucratic interests, and said he was disappointed not to see stronger provisions regarding the release of information.

The act states that the PBO is entitled to “free and timely access to any information under the control of the department or parent Crown corporation” but timely isn’t defined. And there are exceptions — for the disclosure of information that’s restricted under the Access to Information Act, for example.

Page said he would have liked to have seen the bill be “more prescriptive on how the public service will work to ensure information is provided” and offer clear “consequences if they don’t”.

Then there’s the odd restriction on the PBO’s work being restricted when the House isn’t sitting.

“Work of the PBO involves the planning outlook — new economic information of consequence happens in high frequency — will need to release products when Parliament is not sitting,” Page wrote.

“Hopefully the government will be open to amendments.”

Sahir Khan, who served as the Assistant Parliamentary Budget Officer with Page and now works with him a the Institute of Fiscal Studies and Democracy at the University of Ottawa, reiterated some of Page’s points in tweets early Wednesday morning and added that amendment recommendations would be forthcoming.

He did so in response to University of Victoria economics professor Rob Gillezeau, formerly NDP Leader Thomas Mulcair’s chief economist. Gillezeau listed six areas of concern, some of which weren’t covered by Page.

Those included committee requests being prioritized over those of ordinary members of Parliament and a “drastic narrowing of the scope of PBO requests from individual members.”

The new mandate would have prevented controversial requests previously made about the cost of the F-35s and temporary foreign workers, Gillezeau argued.

.@PBO_DPB This was how opposition parties interacted with the PBO. Individual members put in requests to study everything from the Afghan War and… — Rob Gillezeau (@robgillezeau) April 12, 2017

Khan tweeted that Gillezeau made excellent points and replied that the budget bill solved a few big problems, while creating a few others.

“We will publish recommendations on amendments to address deficiencies,” he tweeted.

@robgillezeau @PBO_DPB @stephen_tapp @kevinmilligan @camvidler @twitscotty Our international research and evaluation work has found that the effectiveness and sustainability of a PBO depends on three more elements — Sahir Khan (@sahir_yow) April 12, 2017

@robgillezeau @PBO_DPB @stephen_tapp @kevinmilligan @camvidler @twitscotty 1) The PBO must be qualified for the role. This is missing. 2) information access needs teeth. 3) the PBO should be free from interference — Sahir Khan (@sahir_yow) April 12, 2017