Thank you very much, Mr. Chair.
Mr. Scholten, hope you realize this isn't about you. It's about a statement you made today that indicated our concern of whether or not you had been told something that MPs haven't been told. The budget document is silent on when the deferral is over, and indeed the parliamentary budget officer had to ask for more data from Finance Canada to get a better picture of what was in the budget.
It's very concerning to hear that something may be coming in 2017 that didn't appear in here, or in the PBO. I think it's a valid use of the committee's time to determine whether or not there's any correspondence out there that may put us in the direction of understanding whether or not there is a plan to put it in because it is material to the analysis of the projections for income, and to the costing of the deficits and the debt to this country. It's a material fact that we should have, and if indeed it is the plan of the government then they should inform MPs as they seem to be informing stakeholders.
If you have written documentation...my understanding was that you had said a year. If you had said it was deferred then we wouldn't have perked up our ears. You said 2017 and that's what got our attention, so I think it's a valid use of our time. The Liberal members are going to try to say we're being mean. We're not being mean, sir. We just want to get some information for Canadians and we're doing it in great spirits.
You don't get to respond, but I want to let you know to come in and see us on a non-partisan, non-political basis any time you want to talk about Canadian convenience stores because we're here to listen and to help. On this matter we want to understand whether or not the Minister of Finance's office is providing insight into other stakeholders as to what's happening in the future.
Thank you for your time. Thank you for your presentation, everybody else's as well.