Mr. Speaker, to answer the member's first point about lower unemployment, the Minister of Finance in budget plan 1999 on page 64 projects that employment insurance benefit payments will rise from $11.8 billion to $13.8 billion by 2000-01, an extra $2 billion for employment insurance payments. I do not think the government is looking for reductions in unemployment.
Getting to his other point, when I was talking to the senior officials in the treasuries of Australia and New Zealand, I found that they have a policy of focused program spending. They are into what we call accrual accounting, double entry accounting and budgeting.
The Canadian government made a commitment in 1989 to get into accrual accounting. It is going to be 2004 before we get there. It will have been 15 years before it gets there.
In the meantime, for lack of clear, precise guidelines on how we spend the money we have wasted billions. That is what I learned.