Government Operations committee  That is correct. Thank you very much, Mr. Chair, for having us here today to share Ontario's approach to and experience with financial reporting, which may be of interest to your committee as you study the budget and estimates processes. My name is Greg Orencsak. I am the deput

Government Operations committee  A consistent approach to planning and reporting obviously didn't happen overnight. As I think you've heard from previous witnesses who appeared before this committee, it took almost a decade to prepare for and implement a full accrual accounting system in Ontario. Through that pe

Government Operations committee  Thank you for that question. As with any change of this magnitude, I think there were ample consultations and dialogue that helped inform the path forward. The Ontario Financial Review Commission first made recommendations to that effect and that, in and of itself, was a body t

Government Operations committee  Yes, training was provided. I can't speak to the specifics as I was not around at the time in this role, or I was not involved at that time in terms of the rollout of the transition. I don't know, Chris, if you were personally involved. What helps in terms of our financial plann

Government Operations committee  Sure. It's a great question, and maybe we'll tag-team on this one. From look at the transcripts from your previous discussions, I understand that some of the concerns from the Australian experience have been on how funding or appropriations that were intended for amortization pu

Government Operations committee  No. Chris answered it, so I will not take your time, Mr. Weir.

Government Operations committee  The only thing I'll add is that you'll see it's really important that all of the government's planning processes align and that the various approval processes, whether it comes to how a budget is put together or how estimates are reviewed and approved by legislatures.... Gettin

Government Operations committee  Sure, and this is less of an opinion than a statement of fact. In Ontario in our estimates, when a tax expenditure uses a tax system to deliver benefits to taxpayers, they are included in the expenditure estimates on an accrual basis. Ontario follows the standards established by

Government Operations committee  You mentioned that Ontario transitioned slowly, which is true. I would also add, and I would hope that this holds true, that Ontario transitioned wisely. You have to look at the wisdom of the choices that are to be made at the federal level. Our transition was informed by the re

Government Operations committee  I'm not an expert on the federal finances and estimates, so I would rather not express an opinion on something that I don't think I'm qualified to do. I can speak to the Ontario experience. I think requiring tax expenditures to be disclosed that way leads to greater transparency

Government Operations committee  We would have a contingency allocated and appropriated in the Treasury Board Secretariat. It would be an overall contingency fund under the control of Treasury Board, which would allocate funding out of that contingency fund based on the needs that may arise during the year. Con

Government Operations committee  That's correct.

Government Operations committee  Do you mean in terms of the voting on the estimates themselves?

Government Operations committee  It's a good question. I'm not entirely sure, as I wasn't in my position at the time that the transfer was made, so I can only speak to the current process, but I think voting on the estimates takes place fairly effectively and efficiently. Our estimates committee selects certai

Government Operations committee  Yes, we have commented on that. We have in subsequent budgets.... In the 2010 Ontario budget, there was an addendum that was published that described our experience and the benefits of moving to a system of accrual accounting that aligned reporting requirements. It was a good syn