I want to thank the whole panel today for a very educational, wonderful session. You've done a very good job today as far as soliciting good feedback.
I'd like to start with Mr. Pitka of Ag-West Bio.
To comment, sir, you're totally right when it comes to the demographic challenges we have. Obviously, the previous government sought to extend old age security benefits in recognition of those things. Obviously, the government had a mandate to roll those back. This is not a problem that is going away, and good on you, sir, for presenting some suggestions.
Mr. Engel, thank you for your submission today. Certainly, if we want to have safe installations, I think you raise a very good point, but it also maintains the integrity of the tax system, because often, the professionals you're using bill and pay GST, etc., so it's a very good suggestion.
To Polytechnics Canada, last night, just so you know, I drove by the local institute here quite late, and they all looked like they were working, just burning the midnight oil. I appreciate what you guys do.
My real concern has to do with small business taxation, and I'd like to ask a few different people about it.
First of all, when it comes to passive investments and how the government, in its proposal, has said that it wants to steer people to active investment, my understanding is that companies, if they have active investments, they make them. It's already in their benefit, in terms of depreciation, to make those capital investments for production and all those other reasons.
If the government goes ahead with these rules, I'm worried about the undercapitalization of businesses. I'm worried about some businesses rolling to cash and then having inflation burn, because the government is basically making it very prohibitive. I'm also worried about the role of financial intermediaries. For example, we like to link savers with people who can borrow, whether we're talking about the bond market, whether we're talking about new issuance of stock, etc. I'm worried about the corrosion of the fiscal framework, so to speak, between financial intermediaries.
Do you have anything to contribute in terms of those concerns?
I'll start with Mr. Gorniak, please.