Finance committee  What's important for me, with the Canada Revenue Agency, is that if we do this, we do it well. I've certainly discussed it with the IRS, and I've discussed with the United Kingdom their approaches. There are areas that are relatively straightforward, and there are areas that are very difficult. I want us to do this in a way that is open and transparent, but in a way that educates Canadians so that these numbers have meaning to them.

Finance committee  I know you have 30 years of experience, so I'd like you to explain to me how the practices of the IRS in the United States compare with those of the CRA in Canada. How can we apply global best practices here, in Canada?

Veterans Affairs committee  In military training we certainly do that as well, and those people can provide evidence statements, but when you're on operations, sir, there's nobody there who has nothing to do but watch. It doesn't work that way. The commander is commanding. The two ICs are watching the IR screen, the driver drives, the gunner guns, and when that hatch breaks and falls on the back of your neck, no one is there to see it, so the level of evidence that's being demanded is sometimes unattainable.

Agriculture committee  So when there are issues sitting out there right now that may give rise to questions about some of this or raise the ire of a banker who doesn't understand.... The reality is that when the grandfathers of today's grandfathers retired, 50% of the population was still farming. When a grandfather retires today, it's now 1.4%.

Information & Ethics committee  I honestly have just a quick question for clarification. September 30, 2016, is the next transfer of records between the IRS and the CRA. Some of the concerns that were raised here are that a number of Canadians whose banking records were transferred were not notified. Is that possible at all between now and that date?

Information & Ethics committee  The question that was asked earlier this morning was this: assuming this regime, should the CRA inform the individuals in question that their information has been shared with the IRS? I think there is no reason why not. What we heard is that under access to information provisions, if somebody makes an access request, he or she will be entitled to that information, and that is absolutely true.

Information & Ethics committee  From a privacy perspective, that's highly undesirable, because citizens do not know, if they have accounts totalling less than $50,000, whether their personal information will be transferred or not to the CRA and, ultimately, to the IRS. From that perspective, clarity would be extremely desirable.

Information & Ethics committee  My question was more about ensuring reciprocity. Do we take any steps to verify or assure ourselves that the IRS respects our notion of an acceptable retention period and that they in fact destroy or otherwise not have use of information for a period that exceeds what we would consider to be appropriate for retention and use of the information?

Information & Ethics committee  Are there other means, though, other than that, to ensure, to require, or to enforce respect for retention periods—for example, from the IRS—for information that's been shared under the agreement?

Information & Ethics committee  Chair, my question is somewhat along the same lines as the one that Mr. Calkins asked. In some countries, banks transmit the information directly to the IRS. What kind of filter does the Canada Revenue Agency have before it sends the information it receives from the banks to the Americans? When a bank decides to transfer information to the Americans, does it go through automatically?

Information & Ethics committee  Have there been incidents reported of information that is not subject to the agreement, such as Canadian-held RRSPs, TFSAs, or whatnot, being disclosed to the IRS? Are you aware of breaches of that nature?

Information & Ethics committee  Information exchange is done electronically, through a dedicated, secure and effective transmission system. All information that the IRS receives must be kept secret in the same way as information obtained under its own tax laws. All information can only be released to individuals and authorities in the American tax administration and can only be used for tax purposes.

Information & Ethics committee  That's information the financial institution collects from their American clients and transmits to the CRA. The CRA then transmits it to the IRS. I would describe it as financial information related to the bank accounts.

Information & Ethics committee  They said that before they would release any of it, they were going to check first before they released any such records, because they might be enduring the ire of the political leaders. At that time, there was a sort of cloud of carefulness as to what you'd release in response to legitimate requests, and the thing has never gone away.

Canada Labour Code  Speaker, as part of the process, when the finance committee looked at the bill, we looked at the reports that were provided through, I think, IRS. We went online. To be quite frank, they were very fulsome, they were very detailed, and in actual fact in many cases, required more. I have to remind the member that there were changes made that changed the initial bill to what it ultimately became.