Mr. Speaker, I was interested in the member's comments about the accounting treatment of the millennium scholarship fund. It certainly has been an issue which has captured the attention of the House, as well as the auditor general and the public accounts committee.
It appears to me that there is a technical problem that is being addressed with regard to the proposed treatment of the millennium scholarship fund.
In fact, as I understand it, if the government were to distribute the scholarships out of the innovation fund of the foundation, it could have, and still could today, disbursed the funds directly to the innovation foundation and charged them to the operations of the current fiscal year because the innovation foundation is a not for profit corporation, a separate legal entity.
The reason I understand that the moneys have not been given to the millennium scholarship foundation, which is the proposal, is that the foundation cannot be legally established and incorporated until after the budget is passed by this House.
I think the member will probably also know, with regard to the auditor general, provided that an action is dealt with and passed in the budget prior to the closing of the books and the issuance of the statements, that will satisfy his requirements.
Given that extra bit of information and the fact that if it were paid through the innovation foundation as opposed to the millennium scholarship foundation, would the member not agree that what we are really talking about is simply timing and has nothing to do with the substance of the legal liability which the government has declared in its budget?