Mr. Chair, members may have read the response to the public accounts committee report that I believe was tabled on September 30. You will find in that, for those who haven't had a chance to study it in detail, a very detailed plan to revitalize the collections program over the next few years. It really involves two things. The first is modern information systems that will equip us to do a much better job in identifying risks and taking the proper actions; and secondly, we are reorganizing the way we deliver the collections program. We have roughly 4,000 collection agents to make sure we're getting maximum return from their investment.
I should point out that notwithstanding the large amount of tax debt in total dollars, the vast majority of Canadians pay their taxes on time. Our accounts receivable at a point in time represent roughly 5.5% of what we bring in, in a given year, and we write off actually far less than that in any given year.