Thank you for your question.
There are two things.
First, in preparing the Public Accounts of Canada, as accountants we have to assess how much money we will receive from individuals and organizations. If we think that we will not receive certain amounts, we can make adjustments to the Public Accounts.
That's all background accounting that we would do. If the loan is worth $100 and we think they are going to pay only $90, we can do an adjustment—and the Auditor General would actually require us to—that says, “Here is our best estimate of what we are going to collect.” That is separate from the process of writeoff, forgiveness, or remission.
To do that, with some exceptions, one has to come to the Treasury Board and formally get an approval. It's good housekeeping, and it does get publicly disclosed. That's why it is important to do.
If you are in the business of issuing student loans, or if you are in the business of supporting some vulnerable Canadians and thinking about loans for immigration, you're going to lose some money. We do encourage departments, if they think they can't collect this, to come on in, when the time is right, and write it off.
On the one hand, it's a big dollar amount; on the other hand, we do want departments to do good housekeeping and get this stuff done.