Carney appoints interim budget watchdog as current officer's term ends

Prime Minister Mark Carney has appointed Jason Jacques to a six-month term as the interim parliamentary budget officer.

Jacques is a director general at the office and replaces Yves Giroux, whose term heading up Parliament's budgetary watchdog office expires today.

Giroux said he didn't know who his successor would be as the end of his seven-year mandate approached.

The incoming budget officer is steeped in public sector experience, with stints at the Privy Council Office, Finance Canada, the Treasury Board Secretariat and the Bank of Canada.

The parliamentary budget officer is an agent of Parliament who provides independent economic and financial analysis to the Senate and House of Commons.

Jacques's first major task will come soon, as the federal government plans to table a budget this fall.