Finance committee  You know who's affected, whether they're dual citizens or otherwise. Would you agree that the FATCA and IGA would impact all Canadians who have money in banks and credit unions, because as you referenced yesterday when we talked about the amount of money—although you didn't have an estimate—the literally hundreds of millions of dollars that are forecast to have to be spent will be absorbed by those of us who use banks and credit unions?

Finance committee  I would like to return us for a moment to the agreement that implements FATCA. Mr. Ernewein, we just had the minister before us and he said on several occasions that this intergovernmental agreement did not affect Canadians. I have a great deal of concern, like my colleagues across the way, about misinformation.

Finance committee  I would like to continue with that line of questioning. There is the Canada-U.S. agreement on bank accounts and FATCA. Mr. Minister, you said that you received a legal opinion from the Department of Justice according to which this agreement is constitutional. The Department of Justice usually operates on the basis of a percentage.

Finance committee  The Canada-U.S. agreement is extremely complex and will affect over a million people. I think that saying it was either FATCA or the agreement the government signed is a red herring. Our committee's job is to study the ramifications and consequences of this agreement. The problem is that we can't do that properly by studying this provision among the hundreds of others in this omnibus bill.

Finance committee  I'd like to turn to the intergovernmental agreement that your government negotiated with the United States to deal with the so-called FATCA. Canadians who may also be so-called U.S. persons are very, very concerned about their personal data being shared. As you know, last week Canadians found out their personal information had been accessed 1.2 million times without their knowledge.

Canada-U.S. Relations  Mr. Speaker, the Conservative deal to implement FATCA in Canada will hand over personal financial information to the IRS in the United States, violating the privacy of up to one million Canadians and exposing them to aggressive fines and penalties.

Canada-U.S. Relations  The Conservatives called the long form census a terrible invasion of privacy, but now they are in a mad rush to hand over to the IRS personal and private financial information from up to one million Canadians. They are ramming through the implementation of FATCA in spite of these serious concerns. Will the Conservatives pull this flawed agreement from the omnibus bill, take a breath, and get this right for once?

Finance committee  Green card holders in Windsor, for example, people going across to the United States who actually work there, there may be enhanced scrutiny of their tax situation as a consequence of this FATCA. Are there any issues we need to be worried about with cross-border mobility? Maybe not.

Finance committee  Thank you very much to the witnesses for being here. The intergovernmental agreement related to FATCA without doubt is one of the most complicated provisions of Bill C-31, and we, as the official opposition, have taken the position that it deserves a great deal more study than it is going to get through this process.

Finance committee  There are Canadians married to U.S. persons, as that term is defined in FATCA, or children who were born in the United States but had no relationship to that country their entire lives. Those people living in Canada are also subject to it. Is that part of the one million you estimate?

Finance committee  Chair, to have the officials for the first part of part 6 available, and nothing else, in the event that we don't use all the time on FATCA?

Finance committee  Keddy was asking about or learning about how we're doing here today. Our preoccupation is that our ability to get through parts 5 and 6 around FATCA and certainly the details of almost 30 sections in part 6.... The opposition is not going to ask any questions on part 2 to enable as much time as possible for the committee to get into some of the more complex parts of this omnibus legislation.

Finance committee  I say this for our officials, as it is good to have half the civil service with us here today, and we appreciate your being here. The sections on FATCA, certainly a large treaty with our largest trading partner, the Americans, preoccupies us a great deal, as well as the rather extensive sections in part 6 that encompass.... The challenge we have, Chair, as we've spoken about, is that with such a massive omnibus bill, is being able to have the committee properly understand all the implications.

Finance committee  Chair, but committee members on both sides will be looking at legislation, the impact of which we will not understand simply because we don't have the time as is outlined. I appreciate that FATCA is going to get some attention. I would imagine that everybody will be interested in that attention because it's a major tax treaty with the United States, our major trading partner. One might argue it could be a stand-alone bill, but the fact of the matter remains—and I'll stop at this, Mr.

Finance committee  It is an uncommon thing to act this way. We have a massive tax treaty buried within this bill, the so-called FATCA, which may expose as many as one million Canadians. There are measures on temporary foreign workers. There are measures on reducing hospital fees. There are measures within this legislation that deserve the respect we as parliamentarians can give them by doing our job.