Finance committee  We would have to come back to the committee on this. I don't think one of us has the answer.

Finance committee  By access, do you mean being employees of the public service?

Finance committee  The question of the member is very important, and it's also something that's very dear to my heart. I have made it very clear in many speeches to the staff that if the agency grows, it will not grow in Ottawa; it will grow outside of Ottawa. I'm preoccupied by the fact that Ottawa has now about 21% of the total staff of the agency.

Finance committee  I would have to defer to one of my colleagues. Bill or John will have the answer to that. I don't have the answer to that question.

Finance committee  We have partnerships in every province of the country. We have clients in all provinces except the Province of Quebec, which collects its own income tax. For all the other provinces, we have agreements on collection, and also on the administration of benefits. They're less visible activities, like the $400 Alberta rebate, which we administered under contract with Alberta.

Finance committee  It is certainly on the books. I have to say to the committee that in that case--an agreement between the federal Minister of Finance and the Minister of Finance of Ontario--we are there as one party to the agreement, because we would have to deliver it. From our perspective, technically the discussions are proceeding very well, and we hope the two ministers of finance will reach an agreement very shortly.

Finance committee  In fact, I will ask Mr. O'Connor, who was in British Columbia not too long ago, to comment on where we are at. I think relationships are good.

Finance committee  No, I don't think we're in a position to comment on that in any way. If the governments decide to sign an agreement and implement it, we of course will be there to implement it.

Finance committee  If I may comment on that, there are two things. First, I think, Mr. Chairman, that the member is confusing the Income Tax Act with the CRA Act. This report comments on the Canada Revenue Agency Act. So that's point number one. Point number two is about audits. And I would encourage the committee to ask the Auditor General what she thinks of the agency and what she thinks the agency has achieved in its first five years of existence.

Finance committee  Let me ask Mr. Ralston to comment on this.

Finance committee  No, there's an appeal system, an appeal branch, and it can be brought from there to the court. But before that, there are literally thousands of taxpayers who go to that service.

Finance committee  For the taxpayer, nothing; it's free. In fact, now they can even apply online to get their situation reviewed that way. It's reviewed completely independently, with the power to settle in some cases. Now, from there you can go to the tax court and escalate the thing. But there's a large number, the largest number...and our objective is to solve the problem before it gets anywhere close to court.

Finance committee  The distinction I'm trying to make is that there are two different kinds of issues here. One is a substantial issue--you've been assessed; you disagree with the amount. And there's a very elaborate system for that. The other one is when someone feels they haven't been treated well.

Finance committee  I'm going to answer committee members that there is indeed no time limit. However, I would ask them to give me a day to ensure that that information is in fact correct.

Finance committee  Mr. Chairman, the member is right, being in the tax business is sometimes complicated.