Evidence of meeting #159 for Public Accounts in the 44th Parliament, 1st Session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was accounts.
A recording is available from Parliament.
Comptroller General of Canada, Treasury Board Secretariat
No, there was not. You're right that my predecessor—
Conservative
Kelly McCauley Conservative Edmonton West, AB
I am asking this specifically: Was there any instruction?
Comptroller General of Canada, Treasury Board Secretariat
The answer is no.
Comptroller General of Canada, Treasury Board Secretariat
As I was saying, there were a lot of big transactions this year.
I also want to—
Conservative
Kelly McCauley Conservative Edmonton West, AB
Would you provide in writing those transactions, please?
Conservative
Kelly McCauley Conservative Edmonton West, AB
You mentioned that one of them was for pensions. Help me out here. The pension surplus was realized in the current fiscal year, not the previous fiscal year. Why did you mention the consideration of it as one of the items that caused a delay?
Comptroller General of Canada, Treasury Board Secretariat
It was one of the subsequent events we had to look at.
Conservative
Kelly McCauley Conservative Edmonton West, AB
Right, but help me out here. Under the PSAB rules, it would be recognized in the fiscal year that it occurred in, which is the current fiscal year, not the previous fiscal year. Why did that cause a delay on the previous year's books?
Comptroller General of Canada, Treasury Board Secretariat
If the events existed at March 31, 2024, we needed to take into consideration all those transactions. Contingent liabilities would be one example—
Conservative
Comptroller General of Canada, Treasury Board Secretariat
—as would the non-permitted surplus. For this one, we did not adjust the books. What we did was put a note in the financial statements for the reader to be informed of that transaction.
Conservative
Kelly McCauley Conservative Edmonton West, AB
When did the contingent liabilities change? When did they become assessed as likely to result in future payments, triggering them to become listed in the public accounts and therefore delaying the public accounts?
Comptroller General of Canada, Treasury Board Secretariat
Again, if the situation existed—
Conservative
Kelly McCauley Conservative Edmonton West, AB
When were they assessed as likely to result in future payments?
Comptroller General of Canada, Treasury Board Secretariat
We have a lot of contingent liabilities. We need to look at all of them individually.
Conservative
Kelly McCauley Conservative Edmonton West, AB
I mean specifically the $16 billion regarding the indigenous file.
Comptroller General of Canada, Treasury Board Secretariat
As I said, it's not only one transaction. There are several transactions included in that amount. We have to make a determination one by one as to the likelihood of a payout and if we are able to estimate an amount.
Conservative
Kelly McCauley Conservative Edmonton West, AB
Thanks.
Mr. Forbes, the public accounts document states, “The federal pollution pricing system is revenue neutral”. We had this discussion last year. It's not revenue-neutral. We've stated as such. Why is it listed as revenue-neutral?
Deputy Minister, Department of Finance
The government has committed to, doing so over time, returning the money to—
Conservative
Conservative
The Chair Conservative John Williamson
Mr. McCauley, that is your time, I'm afraid.
I'll turn now to Mr. Erskine-Smith.
It's good to see you today, sir. You have the floor.