Thank you, Mr. Chair.
I am a Liberal, and I agree that we should not be handing out cheques to everyone. That shouldn't be something people need. That's why we believe in the economy. I don't think the honourable member's comment was quite true.
Minister, as you mentioned, I spent 20 years working in taxation, mostly international. I saw a tremendous amount of tax avoidance. I worked in both the private and public sectors. During my two decades in the field, I can tell you that Canada lost hundreds of billions of dollars in tax revenue to schemes.
Treaty shopping comes to mind. Alta Resources, a foreign company that develops our natural resources, made $380 million in revenue without paying tax on it in Canada. AMECO is another such company. Foreign companies developing our natural resources made $8 billion in revenue that the government couldn't collect tax on. That takes away revenue we could use to build hospitals, housing and other important infrastructure. You were talking about food banks. We could give them more funding if we had the money from that untaxed revenue.
Two measures in the budget are going to be especially helpful. I commend you on your courage, because you need it to strengthen the system. You took the bull by the horns in dealing with big international corporations that avoid paying Canadian tax. Thank you.
I want to discuss two things. The first is the OECD's pillar two. We spoke about your trips to the G7 and G20 summits. Thanks to your leadership, international companies will have to pay a minimum 15% tax rate, regardless of where in the world they are based. That is the work you are doing through the OECD on pillar two.
I would like you to talk specifically about how you plan to change the general anti-avoidance rule. The changes appear in the supplementary information document, which I consult directly because it's a great reference, in my view. The important changes you're proposing to the general anti-avoidance rule are under way. Tell us about the process, if you don't mind. Will we see it in the next budget implementation bill? Where are you in the consultation process? I read the amendments you're proposing, and I quite like them.