Thank you, Mr. Chair.
I would say there is a tradition of budget secrecy, of course, relating to the preparation of budget measures, and that's considered to be most acute with respect to tax measures. The government obviously has to be concerned about speculation concerning potential tax measures, particularly those that would affect companies, financial markets, and so on. That means there are limitations on the extent to which the department can signal to stakeholders potential tax changes.
But I would say that there were representations made by the sector on its own initiative. As a result, the government did hear from the insurance sector about this measure prior to the budget and certainly took those representations into account.