It's an excellent question. Actually, it's been very much top of mind for us as well.
The initial announcement on Halloween in 2006 wasn't consultative. It would have been a shock to the system. Again, shutting down a sector is a policy choice.
The REIT community as a whole was greatly relieved that they were spared, and there's global precedent to keeping real estate investment and flowthrough structures—preserving that. The REIT community responded with relief that they were spared. Dealing with the technical material that followed months later...it was drafted quickly, and there were flaws in the draft legislation that made it difficult for the REIT community to actually follow the rules.
But the process continued. All of the professionals serving large REITs—the joint committee on taxation, the lawyers and accountants—made submissions to Finance. I know I was one of three people who flew up to the Department of Finance in the fall of 2006 to start our series of meetings with them. Those meetings were productive.
No one said no to us. It was a very healthy debate around taxpayers who just wanted to follow the rules, and making presentations to make those rules work with a modern REIT structure. A landlord who builds, develops, and rents to tenants, and who forms structure throughout the years, just wants to make the rules work.
The process was very good and healthy. We went back as different versions of the bill came out. There were flaws brought to their attention and they were addressed and fixed.