Mr. Speaker, I share the hon. member's concern about year end spending and so did the Auditor General of Canada in his two reports in the 1980s in which that issue was raised.
The Auditor General did not raise the issue in the sense that he criticized what the money was being spent on, as he said the purposes were well defined, but that there was a lot of spending toward the end of the year and we needed better cash management practices.
I am pleased to say we have instituted a 5 per cent operating budget carry forward for departments so they do not get into that year end spending spree. Furthermore, I have written my colleagues in the ministry and my deputy minister has written his counterparts to help ensure the procedure to cut out the year end spending rush is followed.
We have asked for audits of each of the departments and have asked that they be submitted by June 30 of this year so we can get better control of the cash management of taxpayers money.