Liberals~Parliamentary Budget Officer will return to work while stephen harper cuts and runs

As stephen harper, the coward with dicktatorial tendencies focuses on subverting democracy, real Canadians have decided to get back to work.

Liberal leader Michael Ignatieff notified caucus members that they were expected to report for work on Jan. 25.

He told caucus members they can't let Prime Minister Stephen Harper get away with shutting down Parliament and stifling debate.

"We think there's lots of work to do even if the government doesn't," said one Liberal involved in the call.

The insider said Liberals are also open to continuing unofficial hearings into the treatment of Afghan detainees, provided all opposition parties work together to ensure the hearings don't devolve into "an overtly partisan event."

Adding lemons to haper's acido, is Parliamentary Budget Officer, Kevin Page. Page says there are no rules in place forbidding him from releasing the upcoming reports.

A parliamentary committee advised Mr. Page last year not to release reports during election campaigns, but there are no rules as to how the relatively new office should conduct itself during a prorogation.

As a result, Mr. Page devised his own policy. He will not release any reports on research requested by parliamentary committees or MPs. However, his larger studies conducted independently of such requests will be released.

“Our objective is to ensure parliamentarians have timely access to relevant analysis,” Mr. Page told The Globe and Mail. “The government has not provided their own estimates of the structural balance or the impact of aging demographics on federal finances. In this respect, we are not providing a critique, but adding to the analysis required to have a thoughtful debate about the fiscal planning environment when Parliament resumes.”

Page has been a thorn in harper's side since releasing the cost estimate for the Afghanistan war. The harper government predicted costs would run around $8 billion. Page's figure was closer to $18 billion.

That made stephen harper very angry. And when stephen gets angry, his true toryism emerges. Shutting down parliament {*twice*}, refusing to fund Page's office so he could continue his work as a diligent budget watchdog. But hey, what does one expect from someone with dicktatorial tendencies? He just can't help himself.

note ~ photo stolen copied from Steve V's site, who as I understand, stole copied it from Impolitical.