On Saturday, March 16 at 7 p.m. ET on CTV, Kevin Newman sits down with Canada’s first Parliamentary Budget Officer, Kevin Page, to hear how this blue-collar, hockey coach became Ottawa’s top financial whistleblower.
Working with an independent agency that checks and reports on government financial numbers, Page threw open the doors to Parliament and gave the public unprecedented access to the government’s previously private financial information.
Throughout the five years since of his appointment, Page challenged Ottawa’s financial forecasts and embarrassed politicians by making his reports known – including revealing the true cost of Canada’s involvement in the war in Afghanistan and the price of the F-35 jets; numbers that the government had quoted differently. Page got under the skin of Canadian politicians, including some of the most powerful Ministers in the Harper government, and has been accused of overstepping his mandate.
As Page steps down and the government searches for his successor, it is likely that this role – one that that no politician wants filled – will struggle to find a candidate that upholds the same level of capability and transparency.
W5’s Kevin Newman is available in advance of the broadcast.
Additional W5 stories airing this Saturday include an investigation into sex tourism committed Canadian pedophiles and the government’s failure to stop it; and Tom Kennedy follows-up with Cardinal Thomas Collins from Toronto post-conclave.
Tune in to CTV on Saturday for all of these stories, only on W5.
