Finance committee  They aren't Lucie's bulletins to change right now; they fall within the responsibility of the branch I'm involved in. We wouldn't be able to comment on your views of what the company engaged in, regardless of whether we knew or didn't know what happened, whether they were motivated for the reasons you have described.

Finance committee  No, they are not employees. CGI engaged--

Finance committee  You started with independent contractors.

Finance committee  On your question, if CGI engaged a number of corporations to perform services and it was subsequently determined that those corporations were personal services businesses, there still would not be any EI implications for CGI.

Finance committee  No, I think that's unclear. If CGI had engaged a number of independent contractors, unincorporated entities, and it was subsequently determined that they were--

Finance committee  No, we're taxing them as...their corporations are personal services businesses. It didn't undo the corporate form. It didn't characterize them as employees.

Finance committee  I don't believe it is solely a Quebec issue, and I don't believe it would apply differently in any province. This issue that has come up has involved incorporated specialists, whether they are engineers...and other situations perhaps. A backhoe operator having the cost of his own tools, his own backhoe, would be a lot different from an employee backhoe operator.

Finance committee  No, it isn't. There's a focus in Quebec, under the Civil Code, about subordination, so maybe that question of control becomes a more focused analysis. But with respect to the question of whether it would apply equally if people are conducting themselves in the same way in the high-tech industry in other provinces, we'd likely arrive at exactly the same answer.

Finance committee  You have a good observation, but I think it's casting it in a bit of an unfair light. Parliament, through the Income Tax Act in 1981, set out the law that said where the specified shareholder, the principal shareholder, is essentially carrying out the duties of employment, tax outcomes fail.

Finance committee  Thank you very much for the question. The provision you are referring to is a measure that was tabled by our colleagues in the Department of Finance--section 18.2--to deal with certain interest deductibility. It had a nickname: double dips. We appeared before this committee two years ago, I believe.

Finance committee  When the measure was first proposed, there was an estimate in the budget documents of how much was thought to be recovered, and those estimates would largely be...our colleagues at the Department of Finance.

Finance committee  I don't know whether it would be fair for us to comment on whether it is a way to remain competitive globally, but if I may indulge, when you talk about our being at a standstill, there are several hundred avoidance assessments raised each year, and most of those are accepted by the taxpayers.

Finance committee  It certainly is one. I think it is a complex set of factors, though, that causes a country to reflect on its domestic tax policy vis-à-vis trade partners and trade competitors. I think it's just one aspect.

Finance committee  They are attractive for the particular income taxation model they have. There are aspects to Malta that are attractive, but there are aspects to other countries that have incentives in place. Ireland is still a country that attracts a certain amount of global investment because they have low tax rates.

Finance committee  I'm not suggesting they are unfair, no.