Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Minister, I'm going to ask you the same question I asked you before, along with another question. You can answer them both at the same time.
The question I asked you before is this: Are you considering using your power to appoint an investigator external to the Canada Revenue Agency to shed light on what's going on?
My other question is on a different topic.
I'm very sensitive to the illegal and immoral use of tax havens. In my opinion, the agency's accomplishments in this area, when information gets leaked, falls far short of what European countries, the Internal Revenue Service, in other words, the U.S. tax administration, or even Revenu Québec are doing. While it's definitely a complex issue, one of the problems, in my opinion, has to do with legal proceedings. The agency wins in the lower courts, where judges specialize in financial matters. However, the people planning or resorting to fraud schemes appeal the decision and the case gets brought before judges who have not specialized in the field. Since these judges lack the necessary subject-matter skills, they become plagued with doubt and rule in favour of the person being prosecuted. As a result, we fail to fight the use of these schemes the way we should.
Is the agency, or are you, considering any solutions to resolve this issue of legal cases being appealed, to give you a better chance of winning?
In short, my first question concerns the possibility of appointing an external investigator, and the second question concerns higher courts.