Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
Before I start, I have a question for the Auditor General.
I was reading in the The Globe and Mail today, on page A15, a letter by Mr. Granatstein, who writes for them periodically. He was writing about problems in the military. He said that there were three problems:
The first is something called the accrual system of accounting. In the past, Canadian governments bought a truck for $25,000 and charged that sum to a department's budget. The cost of gas, oil, and maintenance five, 10, and 20 years down the road were charged to future budgets. In accrual accounting, perhaps more reasonably, the costs of operating the truck 20 years into the future are charged to today's budget. That $25,000 truck now becomes a $125,000 charge on this year's budget funding.
Is Mr. Granatstein out to lunch on this? Does he need a lesson on accounting?