Mr. Speaker, I always find it very funny that two successive finance ministers lecture those in the private sector on their accounting practices while at the same time the auditor general routinely rips apart the federal government for its poor accounting. Of course there is the scandal right now in public works and other departments where there does not seem to be any accounting at all, no paperwork. I always find it odd that the federal finance ministers get up and hector those in the private sector on their accounting practices.
My friend is right. I was the finance critic for the reform party and the Canadian Alliance for a number of years. When I first started out, the finance minister was high balling the size of the deficit by billions of dollars. Then he would bring in a deficit that was much lower and would trumpet that. It was a political tool. It completely misrepresented the financial situation of the country. Surely to goodness the federal government should have some kind of obligation to accurately represent what the financial situation of the country is.
The same thing applies to the EI account. My friend is completely right. In that situation we have a notional account that many people felt should run a surplus to a point where there would be enough money in that account to withstand a recession. Many economists have said that should be somewhere in the range of $15 billion. It is now double that and it is getting higher and higher. The federal government has an obligation to lower premiums so that workers do not continue to fund increases in spending by the government. That is another example.
My friend also mentioned foundations. There was all kinds of year end spending that was completely guided by the government's attempt to spend the money so that it did not have to go toward paying down the debt.
There was all kinds of creative accounting. I have only touched on a few.