Finance committee  Yes, but what I would say on that subject is that these measures are focused on a particular type of transaction, which is the sale of a business and the sale of its assets. In the context of those sales, what was occurring, for example, was that the vendor would agree not to compete with the buyer's business and would take value.

Finance committee  The restrictive covenant measures, as was previously mentioned, are directed at a couple of Federal Court of Appeal cases. We would view them as integrity measures. The question that comes up is that when the restrictive covenant was given, the taxpayer, based on the cases, would take the position that the value of the covenant was not taxable.

Finance committee  I'm not sure what you're referring to in “excluded from the clause”. The main clause in the provision provides that if you receive an amount for a restrictive covenant, that will be taxable as income. The provision does have exceptions for when the covenant is given in the context of the sale of a business, including assets or shares.

Finance committee  I'm not familiar with the comfort letter you're referring to, you would have to bring that to my attention. I don't generally sign comfort letters. That's not my role at the Department of Finance. Other people would be responsible for that. There was a press release back in 2003.

Finance committee  It's quite possible my name was on that press release.