Good morning, Mr. Chair. My name is Danielle Laflèche. I'm the director general of the excise and GST rulings directorate at the Canada Revenue Agency. I'd like to thank you for inviting me to attend your meeting.
To set a helpful context for today's discussion, I'd like to briefly describe the role of the Canada Revenue Agency in the administration of the GST/HST. As mentioned by my colleague, the Department of Finance is responsible for developing and evaluating federal tax policy and the legislation through which policy becomes law.
As administrator, the Canada Revenue Agency is responsible for the functions that implement these laws, including: providing information to the public and stakeholders; establishing processes through which individuals and businesses may meet their tax obligations and receive benefits; and, of course, carrying out compliance activities to help ensure that everyone respects the law as intended by Parliament.
The role of the excise and GST rulings directorate within the Canada Revenue Agency, for which I am responsible, is to interpret the GST/HST legislation—that is, the Excise Tax Act—as it is worded. We provide this service to clients over the phone, in person, and by responding to their written requests for rulings and interpretations. I can thus speak about the application of the legislation as it is worded.
Mr. Chair and members of the committee, this concludes my opening remarks. I'd be pleased to respond to your questions.