Absolutely. There's a requirement in legislation, both in the Financial Administration Act and the Auditor General Act that I issue an opinion on the consolidated financial statements of the Government of Canada. The government's financial statements are an important accountability document. They are really the closing loop of that accountability relationship that government has with Canadians. You put out a budget to indicate how you plan to spend, and the financial statements is the accounting of how you actually spend taxpayers' money. So it's important to compare those financial statements against generally accepted accounting principles and ensure that they provide a transparent and just accounting of the financial results for the year, as well as the financial position of the government.
My opinion, which is done in accordance with accounting standards, allows you to then rely on the fact that the information in those financial statements and accompanying notes is reliable, so you can now look at the statements and say the content is one that Canadians can rely on and base decisions on.