That's an excellent question.
We've been exploring this issue with the Department of Finance, both the background and options to keep the list up to date. I'm not clear on the history of the list. What I am aware of is that the process today to add exchanges to the list is very complicated. Foreign exchanges have to go through an application process and in effect prove their regulatory controls are in place and prove their worthiness to Canada. The challenge with that, as the committee I'm sure is well aware, is that Canadian tax law is not well known around the world. A lot of the exchanges that are not listed are in the emerging markets, and it's probably not a priority in their mind to get on the Canadian list. In the last five years, to my knowledge, there have only been two exchanges added to the list: Bermuda and the Canadian National Exchange.
Our recommendation to the government is to look at an alternative process, because we don't think the current process is working and we don't think it is going to maintain the list; and look at other third-party options to validate the process, look at whether they're IOSCO members and OECD members, and look at whether Canada has a signed tax treaty with the country. We think there are a lot of options to make the list more relevant.
My final point would be that, because we have a list, it almost looks as though we are endorsing certain exchanges. The exchange list is predominantly, as I said, Canada, the U.S., and Europe. Our recommendation is to make sure the list is kept modern and up to date, and to allow Canadians to diversify their retirement savings and to have options beyond the more traditional western markets.