I could comment, Mr. Chair, on a couple of fronts, one being the accounting standard of the Public Sector Accounting Board for government transfers. That standard has been under review for three or four years now, to arrive at a general view of what the appropriate accounting treatment is for revenue recognition or expense recognition. That work is under way, but it hasn't been completed yet.
With respect to the trust arrangements, I do know that prior to any money being transferred to a province, that province must agree to spend the money for the intended purpose, and also to report to their own constituents on how it is being used.
So we're relying on the regime within each province, and the auditors general of other provinces as well, to review those transactions and to report to their constituents. We have done some work to look at the financial statements of provincial governments, in which they disclose the balance of the trust that has not been used and how much of it has been taken into revenues. So there is some disclosure on that matter.
A final point to note is that we've just issued a new policy on transfer payments for the Government of Canada, which outlines the general directives governing all transfers, whether they are transfers to not-for-profit recipients or to provinces. And there is a separate section on provinces, which gets at the accountability requirement to get information or to be held accountable for the use of those funds. So we believe that we have raised the bar in that area.