Mr. Speaker, I thank the hon. member for his intervention. I will try to answer his comments about my misleading the public and that the auditor general did not qualify his observations in his signing off on the financial statements.
I agree with the hon. member. He did not make a reservation on it because he said: "Substantially the changes and effect that would occur that year might happen but the significance would happen and those looking at the Government of Canada from afar would be able to recognize that that is the intent of the government". However, he did make it clear and spent a lot of effort in pointing it out to us, notwithstanding that he did not make a reservation on it and signed off.
The point is that if we start allowing politicians to do things with financial statements that go to the edge of generally accepted accounting principles, integrity is at stake. When you go against the history of 126 years in Parliament, which has never been done before, of taking something that has not been consummated, that may lead to a deal down the road and charge it off to prior years-