Questions on the Order Paper  Information regarding “U.S. persons” can be found under article 1(ee) of the IGA: https://www.fin.gc.ca/treaties-conventions/pdf/FATCA-eng.pdf. In response to part (a), the approximate numbers of records sent to the IRS under the IGA for the years in question are as follows: 600,000 in 2017, for 2016 tax year; 700,000 in 2018, for 2017 tax year; 900,000 in 2019, for 2018 tax year.

Finance committee  Sometimes I'm hesitant to advocate for more information sharing where the safeguards are not in place. I wanted to make that comment. Going to the credit unions, we had FATCA, I think it was called, introduced a while ago. The burden on the compliance for credit unions, especially some of the smaller ones, is a lot. How are your members handling the compliance costs in terms of what we require, and do they have the wherewithal to potentially withstand more strengthening of compliance measures?

Budget Implementation Act, 2016, No. 2  Madam Speaker, I thank my colleague for his very important question. When FATCA was introduced by the United States, there was much negotiation between our two countries on this issue. I will say that we do not want to overburden any institution with regulatory burden and extra cost, but we need to balance that with having institutions conform to global financial standards that are introduced, whether it is with the United States or Europe, that we agree to, and we have agreed to that.

Information & Ethics committee  If a financial institution, Canadian as far as we are concerned, is not compliant with FATCA, FATCA requires U.S. payers, that is, corporations and other entities that pay amounts such as interest or dividends, making certain payments of U.S.-source income to this financial institution, to withhold tax equal to 30% of the payment.

Information & Ethics committee  After we had obtained all the information about FATCA, we clearly would still have entered into agreements with the United States. FATCA is an American act. The position that was taken at the time really allowed the Canadian banking system, and Canadians with dual citizenship, to be protected.

Information & Ethics committee  The financial institutions are aware of this kind of information exchange. I must emphasize that, if the agency had not signed an agreement with FATCA, the information exchange would be done by the banks. The fact that the agency is involved and that agreements have been reached with FATCA, allows us to protect the information even more and to respect confidentiality and privacy.

Information & Ethics committee  I believe this was one of the matters raised when FATCA was negotiated, because it was not perhaps very reciprocal. I would like to hear your opinion.

Information & Ethics committee  Therrien, I have a quick question for you. So far this morning we've concentrated on individual personal accounts, but the FATCA also includes commercial accounts for commercial enterprises. Because that information is also privy to the agreement, in your estimation, do you feel that commercial information that is sent to the United States would be secure?

Information & Ethics committee  I just have a quick question. It's another arbitrary question. When the United States under FATCA asks a Canadian institution about a particular bank account, is there a threshold? It can go from zero to whatever, so is there a certain threshold? You talked about the administrative burden for banks, so I'm just wondering what the administrative burden is in terms of the level they're seeking and whether you believe it's an appropriate level.

Information & Ethics committee  As well, on the Canada Revenue Agency website, there is a special section on FATCA and everything that is involved.

Information & Ethics committee  As I mentioned a little earlier, Canada had to come to an agreement on FATCA. We had to sign an agreement with the United States. The problem was the process in the House. There should have been open and transparent discussions with all parliamentarians.

Information & Ethics committee  I would like to emphasize that FATCA is an American act and more than 100 countries have to comply with it in terms of Americans with dual citizenship, wherever they are in the world. As far as constitutionality is concerned, all agreements have been and are vetted by the Department of Justice.

Information & Ethics committee  If the process had involved all parliamentarians, we would probably not be here today discussing FATCA.

Economic Action Plan 2014 Act, No. 1  There are two places in this bill where Canadians’ privacy is attacked. To begin, my colleague has just talked about FATCA, and that is indeed the first element. The second element is the sharing of information between the Canada Revenue Agency and the police. We will start with FATCA. We know that FATCA is an acronym that refers to an American law.

Economic Action Plan 2014 Act, No. 1  He spoke of an exemption. He is half right. There is an exemption for Canadian banks under FATCA, but there is no exemption for Canadian citizens under FATCA. Regarding these registered plans, for which there ought to have been an overall exemption for Canadian citizens because of the matching grants, the government did not negotiate a good deal in Washington.