Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Welcome again, Mr. Cook and the other officials. We appreciate you being here. Thank you for the earlier briefing that we received on Bill C-60.
I'd like to focus my time on the subject of credit unions and the tax changes for credit unions.
Many Canadians have experience with credit unions and other forms of cooperatives. They play an important role in investing in their communities, which distinguishes them from banks, because they have a social mission as part of their makeup. They're also generally much smaller than banks. Vancity, which is the largest credit union, is some 16 times smaller than the smallest of the major banks.
My question is around the purpose of these tax changes. It says that the goal is to create a level playing field with the private sector. Do you really think that credit unions are playing on an even playing field, or ought to play on an even playing field, with the large financial institutions?