Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you for the question, Mr. Julian.
As I was saying, during the 2019 election campaign, the Conservative Party spoke about the possibility of people in Quebec losing their jobs at the CRA, especially the people in Shawinigan and Jonquière. There was talk of moving them to other positions to make them experts in the fight against tax evasion.
With all due respect to our union members, I believe that it's impossible, if not unthinkable, to do so. They have less training than the members of the Professional Institute of the Public Service of Canada, represented by Ms. Daviau. Jobs at the CRA in the fight against tax evasion require an accounting qualification and a university degree. The jobs also require several years of experience at the CRA.
For example, our union members who process tax returns in Jonquière wouldn't be qualified for this work, which requires education and years of experience at the CRA, as I just said. These people will end up unemployed, unfortunately. In the Saguenay—Lac-Saint-Jean region, there aren't 1,200 jobs available for people who prepare tax returns, either at the federal or provincial level. The situation is similar in the Mauricie region.
I want to point out that people do this type of work in other regions of Quebec, particularly in Laval and Montreal. These people would also lose their jobs. It would be difficult to transfer them to other positions elsewhere, unless they move to Revenu Québec. In Quebec, 18,000 people prepare tax returns at both Revenu Québec and the CRA. That's a lot of people. Job losses would be inevitable.
Mr. Ste-Marie, you said that there were no job losses during the transfers. I can give you the example of Ste. Anne's Hospital in Sainte-Anne-de-Bellevue, where the federal transfers to the province have been disastrous and where a number of jobs have been lost.