Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Welcome to the committee again, Mr. Minister.
Welcome to the finance department officials again, and thank you for appearing here concerning Bill C-48.
Obviously, we support the goal of closing tax loopholes and making the tax system in Canada clearer and easier to understand for Canadians. As you know, this is a bill that runs almost 1,000 pages in length, so it makes for some weighty reading for the finance committee.
As you say, it's important that these technical changes be adopted so that there is clarity and certainty in our tax legislation.
I noted that CGA-Canada issued a press release with the introduction of Bill C-48, and it talked about the importance of adopting a mechanism that would set a limit, a date, to have modifications or changes adopted once they're brought into law. As you know, this bill includes changes, some of which are over a decade old, and certainly for some time professionals in the tax field have been clamouring for these changes to actually be put in law for the sake of clarity and ease of understanding.
What do you think about the recommendation of the tax professionals that there be a time limit set for tax changes so that they would be adopted in such a bill in a timely fashion, rather than letting them sit for more than a decade?