Thank you very much, Mr. Chair.
I thank all of the witnesses for being here today.
I thank Mr. Hickey in particular for having been able to meet us, in spite of the difficulties that he faced. I would like to thank you as well for your heartfelt plea. I hope that my colleague, Mr. Adler, didn't take it as crocodile tears. That would be very unfair of him.
Obviously, considering the conditions in which we must work and the timelines that we have to deal with, we must focus on some very precise matters.
I am turning to you, Ms. Presseault. I am particularly interested in the issue of restrictive covenants, defined in section 195 of Bill C-48. I had the privilege of being able to ask other witnesses about it in previous sessions.
In an article on tax strategy taken from the September-October 2005 issue of CGA Magazine, on the subject of restrictive covenants, one can read that these new rules lack clarity and are too complex to be actually used. It mentions unexpected traps and missed planning opportunities for taxpayers.
There have however been some changes since then. Do you still have the same opinion of restrictive covenants?