Finance committee  Thank you.

Finance committee  Mr. Chair, first I would like to reiterate how we stand behind and reaffirm the CRA's confidence in the integrity and professionalism of its employees, including the employees--

Finance committee  Mr. Chair, I just wanted to confirm our support for our staff. Secondly, the numbers that have been quoted in committee today are not numbers that I recognize. Thirdly, on the question regarding when it's over, I'd like to say that the CRA takes these allegations very seriousl

Finance committee  Mr. Chair, this is something we want to do; it's one of the points that we're looking at. I don't want to assume what the outcome will be, but I can tell the committee that the agency is considering it for the future.

Finance committee  Mr. Chair, this particular question is not something that I'm in a position to respond to. It deals with a particular tax file or tax situation. I'm not at liberty to comment on this particular file.

Finance committee  Mr. Chair, we are able to validate the eligibility of the individuals who are applying for this program. It's something that we do as part of our core business. We continue to refine our ability to do that. It's something that we're committed to doing going forward, as we have in

Finance committee  I believe this is something that I would have to come back to the committee on. It's program-specific and I'd have to validate the response before providing it to you.

Finance committee  Mr. Chair, in ballpark numbers, we had approximately 1,253 auditors who were impacted by the harmonization with the Province of Ontario. We made offers to all of those. We had more than a 90% take-up rate of the job offers made. Those individuals are now employees of the CRA and

Finance committee  We are quite proud to say that we believe that the transition was implemented very successfully. We spent a lot of time and energy up front in communicating with those auditors and other staff who came over from the Province of Ontario to ensure a smooth transition. In my view, t

Finance committee  The one observation that--

Finance committee  Mr. Chair, the objective of these re-engineering efforts, whether on the T1 or the business side—which also touches on the audit function—is not to have fewer auditors; the objective is to become more efficient. We're hoping that if we can leverage this upgrade in the technology,

Finance committee  Mr. Chair, I do have an estimate of the cost to implement the small business tax credit, which is approximately $5.2 million. What I don't have with me is the uptake. This is something that we would have to take back for consideration and then come back to the committee.

Finance committee  Mr. Chair, as I said earlier, we in the agency are quite proud of the integrity of our employees. We have more than 40,000 employees in the agency in various functions, and we've referred to approximately 9,000 as being in the audit function. We spend a lot of time and energy co

Finance committee  Absolutely, there is, Mr. Chair. The funding we're requesting today for advertising is definitely geared towards creating awareness of the tax credits that are available, which some Canadian citizens may not be taking advantage of and should be. It's about creating that awareness

Finance committee  Mr. Chair, to answer the first question, we can indeed provide the committee with the information that you requested. As for advertising, I simply want to confirm that the agency does not receive a specific amount for advertising. The advertising budget is managed by the Privy C