Mr. Chair, give me six minutes and 15 seconds to start with to allow me a brief moment to thank you for your many years of service to not only your constituents but your province and country.
I remember when I was first elected to the House seven and a half years ago, and we were together on the public accounts committee. You sat on the opposition side all by your lonesome as a Liberal. I remember what a statesman you were as an opposition member, and now I've gotten to enjoy you as a committee chair. I've found you to be just as much a statesman, if not even more so. You've been courteous, respectful, tolerant, and certainly you've been non-partisan in the adjudication of your position, so I thank you, Wayne. I thank you for your friendship. You've not let your job interfere with your friendships, and I thank you for that.
Now I want my six minutes to start.
Thank you to all of our witnesses here for testifying at committee. I've appreciated the input that you've given into this very important topic that we're discussing about combatting tax avoidance and evasion.
Mr. Lareau, I was particularly interested in your analysis of the KPMG situation and the tax havens that The Fifth Estate has tried to document for Canadians. Some folks have found themselves out of their life savings, and hardships have been created by the tax scheme that was entered into by many unscrupulous people with the help of KPMG, it appears.
I'm going to move past that, though. Mr. Lareau, I want to ask you a question about the more current environment that we have. The Prime Minister, in his 2019 mandate letter to the Minister of National Revenue, instructed the minister to “seek new ways to counter tax avoidance and evasion by wealthy individuals”, “enhance our existing tax avoidance and evasion whistleblower programs”, and “look for more opportunities to invest resources that help crack down on tax evaders”.
Mr. Lareau, in your opinion, has the government taken meaningful action in accomplishing that objective?