Thank you very much, Madam Chair.
What's clear here, regardless of the amount, is that this creates a massive loophole, and I think that's the consideration that we must have as a committee. It doesn't matter about the amount. It just matters that any company that claims that amount is then completely subtracted from the act, which means they can do whatever the hell they want and the CRTC doesn't have any sort of jurisdiction. Not only does that create a huge imbalance. It means that the companies that are the most dishonest, the online undertakings that are the most dishonest, are the ones that can benefit the most from this uneven playing field, this loophole that leads to some companies being able to, through dishonest practices, simply pull themselves out.
All parties have said that they support the intent of creating a level playing field, and all parties support the idea that web giants should pay their fair share. It seems to me to be very destructive to those principles that all parties support, if that we create this loophole that dishonest online companies could use to simply say, “These provisions don't apply. I'll do whatever the hell I want.” We have heard testimony from our departmental witnesses that it is a laborious practice that does not guarantee an adequate outcome to get around those dishonest players.
We cannot create with Bill C-11 what we have created with overseas tax havens.
The PBO estimates that $25 billion a year goes to overseas tax havens. Think of the housing crisis, the crisis in indigenous communities, what seniors are living through, families struggling with the cost of living, all of those things, and $25 billion goes to overseas tax havens in a blink of an eye, every year, according to the Parliamentary Budget Officer. Why would we want to create the same kind of massive loophole in Bill C-11?
It makes sense to take the approach that, if we want to have a level playing field, online providers are part of this approach on Bill C-11, and I fail to see how a loophole in any amount listed can be.... As a dishonest practice within an online undertaking, particularly a foreign one that is perhaps in a jurisdiction where Canada doesn't have the ability to intervene, they can just choose whatever figure they choose to declare, even if it's a dollar, and then they're automatically basically exempt from the act. That doesn't make any sense at all.
We're basically going over the same amendment with different dollar figures. Regardless of the amount, it creates a significant loophole for dishonest business practices and actually skews the whole principle of a level playing field, which is the intent of the bill and which—I'll mention it just one final time—all parties say that they support. Why would any party propose to create a big loophole that throws that out of whack?