Thank you for your question.
Just for the record, we don't wish to “abandon”; we just made a major commitment on the basis of what we had been told.
Basically, we are looking here at an issue of fairness. As you may know, the Income Tax Act already permits tax deferral for certain qualifying properties under subsections 13(4) and 44(1) to allow taxpayers to defer capital gains when a former property is involuntarily disposed of or a former business property is voluntarily disposed of. We're just trying to make sure here that where real property is specifically excluded from that definition of former business property, we get a fair shake in that particular area.
We've also given all kinds of arguments for the environment, for the revitalization of such properties, and so on. As well, the cost is negligible when you look at the studies we have put together. We have been at this, as you well know, for well over five years, and that was part and parcel of the direction the government was taking in the first place some years ago, when it was elected.
So it's on that basis, basically, that we feel we're dealing largely with fairness here.