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But fear not, MPs and senators. You should still be able to hold Morneau and his colleagues to account over the fine print of their fiscal forecasts.

The intrepid data-detanglers at the PBO have put together updated – or, as the report puts it, “completed” – tables that “maintain consistency with past presentation practices,” which include more extensive projections on potential economic impact, as well as the original, unadjusted predictions from private sector economists.

Even so, MPs shouldn’t let the government off the hook for the initial document dump – and that means not just those seated on the opposition side of the House, but all those Liberals filling the backbenches too, particularly (if not exclusively) those who were members of the preceding parliament.

They are, after all, MPs first and foremost.

Even if they happen to sit in the governing party caucus, they have a sworn duty – not just to their constituents, but to the Commons itself – to keep a close eye on just how the billions of budgeted dollars are being divvied up.

That means being fully armed with the necessary information to pose pointed questions to the ministers in charge of overseeing that process – in the House or Senate, at committee or, for those aforementioned Liberal backbenchers, possibly during the weekly closed-door caucus sessions.

While it’s heartening to see that Frechette and his team take that responsibility seriously, it would be more reassuring to hear the Liberals apologize for keeping parliamentarians in the dark, even inadvertently, and pledge to eschew the dimmer switch in future.

And if Trudeau really wants to prove that he’s still committed to giving parliamentarians informative and impartial fiscal analysis, he might want to move his campaign promise to make the Parliamentary Budget Officer a full-fledged Officer of Parliament to the top of his to-do list.