Mr. Chairman, the purpose of the petroleum products revolving fund is to have a fund which would be able to absorb losses and, theoretically, if there were revenues in a particular year to balance that out in a way so that the consumers would not have these price increases and decreases. So that fund was set up a good number of years ago. It was set up as a stabilization fund. Over the years, going back... And my note goes back to 1996-97 with a $3 million deficit... It's faced losses all the time. So the fund deficit has continued to grow. In December, we corrected that to a large extent by charging all the government users the amount they should be paying, so they are at least paying their full amount. So that will help move it closer, as you can see on the page, to breaking even. We have that $4.7 million that's accumulated. Unless we intend to recoup it from consumers, then it's carried on and on as a deficit. If we are going to collect it from the consumers, it is going to be a big hit on people living in the small communities. If we are not going to collect it, then the proper way of accounting for it is to take it off here and put it into our books as being a deficit that we've accumulated and recognize it as part of our deficit. We don't leave it hidden in this revolving fund, otherwise we are going to be accused of not accounting for it properly. Our view right now is that we are not going to be able to collect the $4.7 million from the customers in PPD communities, so write it off and we start over again. We should be able to maintain a balance by the correction we've made in charging governments the correct amount that they should be paying.
Joe Handley on Bill 3: Supplementary Appropriation Act, No. 3, 2002-2003
In the Legislative Assembly on March 13th, 2003. See this statement in context.
Bill 3: Supplementary Appropriation Act, No. 3, 2002-2003
Item 19: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
March 12th, 2003
Page 767
See context to find out what was said next.