Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Mr. Ste-Marie, I want to first say that I very much respect your political beliefs.
I did indeed mention that in my opening statement. It would make sense, a lot of sense even, for Revenu Québec to be the only one handling taxation in Quebec, if Quebec were a country. However, since Quebec is a province within a federal system, it's not a good idea. You don't have to take just my word for it; every expert in Quebec who has studied the matter believes the CRA should assume the responsibility. Why? Because it has more tools.
Revenu Québec's jurisdiction is limited to Quebec. Picture this scenario. Let's say I live in Gatineau and I decide to move to Ottawa and take all of my assets out of Quebec. That means I don't have a single asset left in Quebec. My employer is in Ottawa. If I owe Revenu Québec money and it wants to garnish my wages in Ottawa, I say good luck. My employer can say no on the grounds that the agency does not have jurisdiction. As a recovery officer, I know what I'm talking about.
However, if I move from Gatineau to Vancouver or anywhere else, the CRA can track me down and collect the taxes I owe. It can even take action beyond Canada's borders. I, personally, worked on a case where people who owed the CRA money had fled to the United States, so I asked the CRA, in Ottawa, to ask the Internal Revenue Service, in the U.S., to collect the money on the CRA's behalf and transfer it at no charge. Revenu Québec cannot do that. I'm not even talking about tax agreements.
My point is simply this: there are tremendous advantages to having the CRA do the work over Revenu Québec.
You brought up jobs, but I would add that an awful lot of jobs in Quebec would be lost. Quebec's premier was honest enough to say it, so good for him. For those of you who aren't from Quebec, I would even go as far as to say that CRA jobs elsewhere in the country would be lost. Employees in Calgary and Hamilton who work in call centres serving individuals also process Quebeckers' tax returns. Saint John, New Brunswick, Toronto and Edmonton all have call centres that serve businesses. Tax returns filed by residents of Quebec are also processed in Winnipeg and in Sudbury. People working in recovery across the country would lose their jobs as well. Even though those people are based outside Quebec, they, too, are called upon to process Quebeckers' tax returns.