The Auditor General did look at this issue in 2008, made some comments in the report, and suggested that Foreign Affairs should be more assiduous in terms of its accounting in this particular area. My own view, without saying anything about accountants generally, is that accountants in government can spend money and give a reason for it that's in accordance with the law, but in effect, when you look at it very closely, it's not.
It's an area where there is a real problem looming. About three years ago, the government decided to increase the period for a passport—a 10-year passport is now available—but they did not increase the consular service fee. A Canadian buying a 10-year passport pays half the consular fee paid by somebody who buys a five-year passport. There's a need here to increase the fee so that it matches up to the years of service that you get out of the passport.
In terms of the numbers that I have seen, I must say that I'm an outsider in all of this and all I can do is look at the documents that appear in public, but I think in excess of $1.4 billion has been collected in this area. My own conclusion—and other people have said the same thing—is that only about $800 million of that can be accounted for by consular services.