Thank you.
I want to continue with my colleague's comment about how we very much care about the intergenerational issue. I want to put two things on the record and then ask my question.
First, in budget 2019, we said the following:
The Government understands the importance Canadian farmers, fishers and other business owners place on being able to pass their businesses on to their children. The Government will continue its outreach to farmers, fishers and other business owners throughout 2019 to develop new proposals to better accommodate intergenerational transfers of businesses while protecting the integrity and fairness of the tax system.
As well, the December 13, 2019, mandate letter for the Minister of Finance lists it as a top priority to work with the Minister of Agriculture and Agri-Food “on tax measures to facilitate the intergenerational transfer of farms”.
It is a huge issue for us; it has been an issue for us, and it continues to be an issue for us.
My question is with regard to something that I think you mentioned, Mr. McGowan. You said that a number of amendments are being looked at. I very much took to heart the presentations we had this morning, where we directly had representatives from the Canadian Federation of Agriculture and from the Fédération de la relève agricole du Québec.
As we're making some of those amendments, they very much asked for direct involvement in consultation with the grassroots, not just within the farming sector. I think our chair sort of expanded on that, saying that there are other stakeholder key groups that would want to provide input. The very clear message we heard this morning was that it's not a "one size fits all” in terms of addressing the tax loophole solutions.
I would like to inquire as to whether or not there will be some direct connections with these key stakeholders on the amendments that are being proposed.