Mr. Chairman, thank you. The purpose of the Forgiveness of Debts Act, 1994-95 is to authorize the forgiveness of certain write-offs listed in the schedule to the act. Pursuant to section 25(1) of the Financial Administration Act, the forgiveness of a debt or obligation exceeding $1,000 to the government and most boards and agencies must receive Legislative Assembly approval. When a debt is forgiven, no further collection action shall be pursued. The forgiveness being proposed in this act will not require a new appropriation. Allowance for doubtful accounts appropriations were affected at the time it was determined that collection of the debt was considered unlikely.

Even though an account is written off, Financial Management Board Secretariat government accounting still pursues collection action against the debtor. In the files that have been identified for forgiveness, it is determined that collection of the debt is no longer possible. Mr. Chairman, a large component of the accounts being forgiven are bankruptcies, negotiated settlements and unsubstantiated debts. The number of accounts being forgiven this year is significant, due to the fact that the last forgiveness act was for the year 1988-89. A review of the write-off files is being conducted on an ongoing basis. To date, these files have been identified for forgiveness. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.