The same finance officials who hate this idea now hated this idea then and advised government not to go down this road. The Tories at least reviewed the legislation—to their credit—but didn't pass it when the Liberal MP Emmanuel Dubourg proposed this years ago.
I'll remind you that Emmanuel, prior to becoming a parliamentarian, was a CRA auditor, so he knows what he is talking about.
I think inaction and prioritization were the enemy of this. This is a confusing area, and nobody—no minister—wants to be the one who presides over something that is going to create some giant new loophole that costs the treasury a bunch of cash.
This isn't that bill. This is a bill that I think has put in place reasonable guardrails. Emmanuel Dubourg tried to do that; Guy Caron tried to do that. I think Larry Maguireis doing the same thing, which is trying to make sure we find that balance to ensure that we can provide legislation to level the playing field, without necessarily leaving a giant new way for creative people to try to get out of their tax obligations.
I think this bill does that. I really urge the committee to give this your strong endorsement, so we can get this issue behind us. If tweaks are needed, call us all back. I guarantee you that the accounting community and business associations like mine and others will be there to find ways to shore up any gaps that we may encounter along the way. You have my word to do that.