Thank you very much.
Good afternoon, Mr. Chair and members of the committee.
It's truly a pleasure to address this committee today and to be here in a different role than in the past. As the former Comptroller General of Canada, I have worked with many of you and with many parliamentarians and senior government officials, and I'm very pleased to deliver these remarks today to the committee as the president and CEO of CPA Canada. With me today is my colleague Bruce Ball, who is the vice-president, taxation, of CPA Canada.
Before I start, would you just allow me to congratulate you, Mr. Chair, on your 28 years of service to Canada and to your own province? CPA Canada has always appreciated working with you, and we wish you the very best for the future.
CPA Canada is the national organization that represents Canada's CPA profession nationally and internationally. It supports the CPA provincial and territorial accounting organizations across Canada, which have statutory authority to regulate the profession's 220,000 members. Among its many activities, CPA Canada's mission is to act in the public interest and to contribute to economic and social development.
CPA Canada has always maintained a good working relationship with the government, including Finance Canada and the CRA. Throughout the pandemic, our collaboration with the federal government has reached new levels. We have been educating members and providing them with the tools they need to support individuals and small businesses in navigating key government support programs. We've also been providing advice and expertise on where improvements are most needed, and we've been working to find solutions so that those who are eligible for the benefits are able to receive them.
Chartered Professional Accountants of Canada, or CPA Canada, believes that the tax system in the country is an important policy mechanism to support Canada's economic recovery and efforts to build back better. Our organization has long called for the government to conduct a comprehensive review of Canada's complex tax system, which taxpayers need to better understand in order to comply with their obligations. This is important. Our overall standard of living can be maintained only when everyone pays their fair share of taxes.
As part of its commitment to serve the public interest, CPA Canada has consistently taken a stand against tax evasion and other financial crimes that are inherently illegal, unethical and harmful to the economy and societies worldwide.
Those are not victimless crimes. Real people are harmed. It is heart-wrenching to hear the stories of those on whom these crimes have taken a terrible toll: on their health, their well-being, their families and their life savings. Our position on financial crime is clear, and it is on the public record.
CPA Canada works with the Canadian government and international organizations to improve tax regimes, combat money laundering and strengthen financial systems to counter criminal activities. For example, CPA Canada has provided input in the OECD and the B20 and participated in the private sector consultative forum on the financial action task force. We've also appeared many times before this committee and the Senate national finance committee calling for a comprehensive tax review, and both committees have endorsed our recommendations. CPA Canada has also served on the Minister of National Revenue's underground economy advisory committee.
We work also to strengthen Canada's anti-money-laundering regime through multiple government submissions, our representation on Finance Canada's advisory committee on money laundering and terrorist financing and, most recently, our participation in the Cullen commission public inquiry in B.C.
CPA Canada has also actively participated in government consultations to strengthen corporate beneficial ownership transparency since the discussions began in 2018. We're pleased to see the government's commitment in the recent budget to implementing a public registry of beneficial ownership. We believe that transparency is a critical factor in the fight against financial crime. We applaud our government.
We also welcome the federal government's commitment to increasing tax compliance, strengthening the integrity of the tax system and ensuring tax fairness.
The measures set out in the 2021 budget to fund new initiatives and extend existing programs will help to crack down on tax evasion and aggressive tax avoidance and enhance the CRA's ability to collect outstanding taxes in a timely manner.
These are important steps forward, yet more action is needed from all of us. We all share this responsibility. In the fight against tax evasion, we must realize that Canada’s tax system is overly complex. We need to continue to simplify Canada’s tax system, and we encourage this committee to continue with those conversations and your recommendations. In a nutshell, simplification makes compliance much easier.
As always, CPA Canada is ready to work with parliamentarians to advance this effort.
Thank you, Mr. Chair and members of the committee. Monsieur Ball and I welcome your questions.