Mayor, ladies and gentlemen, good morning. Thank you for your presence and for welcoming us to your beautiful island. Once again, your presentations are both very relevant and rich in content.
My name is Gabriel Ste‑Marie. I'm the Member of Parliament for the riding of Joliette, which is located northeast of Montreal.
Mayor, everything you've raised about the gas tax, inflation, infrastructure funding delays and climate change challenges, I've also heard from the mayors in my riding. I'm always impressed by the pragmatism of municipal elected officials. You deal with residents every day, you hear first-hand reports. What happens in Ottawa is often somewhat removed from the people. So it's good to be able to hear your feedback and assessment.
The same applies to all witnesses. The face that we aren't asking questions of each and every one of you doesn't mean we won't be taking notes to ensure that your recommendations appear in the committee's report when it's presented to the Minister of Finance.
Mr. Mueller, thank you for attending. It's a pleasure to see you in Charlottetown.
I'll begin with the luxury tax that's currently in effect, a subject you touched upon. Let me remind you that the aim of the luxury tax was to increase the contribution of the wealthy to the tax effort. Our concern before this tax was introduced was that it would harm a strategic industry of the Canadian economy instead of achieving the goal of having the wealthy contribute more to the tax effort.
So, I'd like a rundown. You referred to the study carried out by Professor Roy for the Aerospace Industries Association of Canada in connection with these concerns. What is the current situation?