Thank you, Mr. Chair.
I thank Mr. Turnbull, Mr. Davies and the official for their participation in the exchanges.
I would like to remind you that Quebec is the only province that manages the GST. In the case of the other provinces, the Canada Revenue Agency collects this tax. Because Quebec is a nation, because it has Revenu Québec and because it has its own ways of doing things, for decades there has been an agreement between the federal government and Quebec whereby it is Quebec, through Revenu Québec, that administers the collection of the GST in this province.
Quebec's professional orders have had discussions with Revenu Québec and the Canada Revenue Agency over the past few months. We've had the text of the bill for some time now. These professional orders are calling us because they have been told that, according to the current wording of the bill, they would not be entitled to the GST exemption.
The senior official, whose name I forget, and I apologize, has just confirmed to us the intent of the bill. I can understand that. When I read the bill, that is also what I take from it. That's the first thing I said to the representatives of Quebec's professional orders; I told them what the intent of the bill was. I then put the question to officials during the first session on the bill. They confirmed that this was indeed the intention of the bill. I went back to the representatives of the professional orders to tell them that this was indeed the case.
Despite testimony confirming that this is indeed the intent of the bill, the Canada Revenue Agency and Revenu Québec believe that given the way the bill is currently drafted, there would be no GST exemption for these Quebec professionals.
It's possible that my colleagues don't like the fact that the text of the amendment talks specifically about Quebec, but that's because its situation is different. It's Revenu Québec that collects the GST in Quebec. That explains the wording. I'm sorry about that. We worked with the legal experts, as that is the way we do things here, to ensure fairness. Fairness doesn't always mean that things are equal for everyone, but that we adapt for everyone.
The official said he thought these professionals would be exempt from GST. Now, other officials had told us the same thing previously, but upon checking, we were told that these professionals would not be entitled to this exemption.
Mr. Chair, before we continue talking about this amendment, I would like to know if there is a representative in the room from the Canada Revenue Agency who could talk to us about this amendment and the current situation.