I've always felt accrual-based information is much better information. It gives you a more complete picture of assets and liabilities--for example, the fact that environmental liabilities and liabilities for veterans pensions are now being recorded. Those were never on the books of Canada before, all the fixed assets, the accounts receivable. We talked about the Canada Revenue Agency and its reported $18 billion of accounts receivable; those were never on the balance sheet. Now they are.
If they are on the balance sheet, people will manage them. They're more visible. Obviously, they're very big numbers, and things can go wrong and it is very difficult at times to make good estimates around things. Environmental liabilities are a good example. Government has gone through inventories and tried to make estimates. Will those be the actual numbers spent? In all likelihood not, but at least there's an attempt to quantify it.
So accrual information gives you much better information, and I think it gives parliamentarians and Canadians a more complete picture of the financial situation of government.