Finance committee  That's correct.

Finance committee  It doesn't necessarily leave a forced conversion. What it leaves is that the tax-free rollover disappears after December 31, 2012. So the unit holders of any trusts that choose to convert after that deadline will suffer capital gains or losses, as the case may be, whereas the trusts that convert prior to that deadline will do it on a tax-free basis.

Finance committee  The date was never mentioned at any time. It was never discussed at any consultations. It was never announced at any point. It's our position that the date is likely an arbitrary date and, truthfully, is not necessary in terms of levelling the playing field, as was the government's stated intention.

Finance committee  We would actually propose that there be no conversion deadline. It's important for the committee to realize that after January 1, 2011, any income trusts that continue to operate in that role will be paying tax at a rate of 35%.

Finance committee  So they will make a decision to convert or not.

Finance committee  We would respectfully request that the deadline be eliminated.

Finance committee  Thank you, Mr. Dechert, for that question. To give a specific projection in terms of conversions would be impossible. Primarily, because that information is usually considered proprietary by the trusts, it's sensitive business information. For the most part, the income trusts try to make the decision to convert to a corporate status dependent on business realities at the time of conversion, taking into account the best interests of the stakeholders.

Finance committee  The specifics of that would be to say that in fact there would likely be no costs in additional revenue to the federal government. Carving out the oil and gas trusts from the application of the SIFT tax would be a great boon and benefit, in the views of our membership, to the province of Alberta and frankly to the economy of the country.

Finance committee  Thank you, Mr. Chair. My name is Peter Carayiannis and I'm the director of legal and government relations with the Canadian Association of Income Funds. On behalf of the association's members, I thank the Minister of Finance, this committee, and its members for undertaking the important and significant work of a cross-country consultation in advance of the 2010 budget.