(a) The Canadian Wheat Board accounts are audited by an independent external auditor, Deloitte and Touche, Chartered Accountants. In addition, management of the Canadian Wheat Board is responsible for having good internal controls and formal policies and procedures to ensure the integrity and reliability of accounting and financial reporting. Management continually evaluates policies and procedures to ensure they meet the needs of the board and comply with current Canadian accounting standards. An internal audit group independently assesses the effectiveness of internal controls and recommends improvements.
(b) Audit results are published each year in the annual report of the Canadian Wheat Board which is tabled in Parliament and publicly available.
(c) As of 30 September 1994, the Canadian Wheat Board accounts receivable due from foreign customers totals $6.901 billion.
(d) The Canadian Wheat Board has not written off receivables from foreign governments. The Canadian government has, however, agreed, along with other creditor countries to implement multilateral, Paris club, debt relief initiatives for Poland and Egypt. Zambia and Ethiopia received much smaller debt relief packages. The Polish debt relief package was created to assist that country in its transition to a democratic state in pursuit of market oriented reforms. The Egyptian debt relief agreement was made to enable Egypt to recover from the aftereffects of the gulf war. In neither case was the debt relief granted because the debt was considered to be uncollectible.
About $522 million will be drawn down in this fiscal year from the allowances of the Government of Canada for general contingencies which were created in 1990. Further drawdowns will be made in fiscal year 1995-96 to complete debt relief operations for Poland and Egypt.
Poland's debt to Canadian government agencies has been reduced by about $216 million. After debt reduction, Egypt's debts will be reduced by $279 million. Egypt and Poland are servicing the remainder of their debts punctually.
Question No. 110-