Mr. Chair, the estimate originally arrived at in 2009 was I guess based on the best available information at the time. Since then, we've obviously seen that conditions have changed year over year, but we've also noticed that the payments to the provinces were somewhat lower, as the member outlines. So as a result of that and the current conditions....
I should remind the committee that this money is in a special purpose allotment and there are two things. One is that while it affects the agency's bottom line from a budget perspective, it doesn't decrease the agency's operating budget. Also, it is truly an in-and-out amount in terms of the amounts the government collects, minus the administration, legal fees, etc., and the net goes off to the provinces.
Having said that, we have a close relationship with the Department of Finance and we engage with them concerning what the actual disbursements are. Over time, we have been able to provide that information to the Department of Finance.