Once, Stephen Harper said "We believe in honest budgeting"

In the midst of my summer break, I thought I’d catch up on some of my work related e-mail and found this note from July 22:

Statement by Sonia L’Heureux, Parliamentary Budget Officer (interim)

In April 2013, I sought information necessary to undertake analysis into the 2012 federal budget. That analysis was requested by a parliamentarian pursuant to s. 79.2 of the Parliament of Canada Act. The information necessary for this purpose was requested from government departments and agencies. The first deadline for providing it came and went, and the majority of departments and agencies did not comply with the totality of my request. I informed the Speaker of the Senate and Speaker of the House of Commons. They asked me to write to the non-compliant departments and agencies again, requesting them to provide the information. That second deadline of July 19, 2013 came and went, and I have yet to be provided with all the information that I need to undertake the requested analysis. If and when I am provided with it, I look forward to performing the analysis and, thereby, discharging my legislative mandate.

I am reminded that in June I blogged the following:

Once, Stephen Harper promised: “We will increase the powers of members of Parliament”

So far as specific promises related to the function of the Parliamentary Budget Officer and to Parliamentary oversight of government spending goes, Stephen Harper once told Canadians that if they elected a Conservative government, he would:

• increase the power of Parliament and Parliamentary Committees to review the spending estimates of Departments and hold Ministers to account. (2004 Conservative election platform)
• “We believe in honest budgeting” (2004)
• Increase the power of Parliament and parliamentary committees to review the spending estimates of departments and hold ministers to account. (2006 Conservative election platform)
• Create an independent Parliamentary Budget Authority to provide objective analysis directly to Parliament about the state of the nation’s finances and trends in the national economy. (2006) 
• Require government departments and agencies to provide accurate, timely information to the Parliamentary Budget Authority to ensure it has the information it needs to provide accurate analyses to Parliament. (2006)
• Ensure that government fiscal forecasts are updated quarterly and that they provide complete data for both revenue and spending forecasts. (2006)

The 2008 and 2011 Conservative election platforms made no commitments to “honest budgeting”, improving Parliamentary oversight or strengthening the role of the PBO.