Thank you, Madam Chair.
Mr. McGowan, first, I want to apologize for not being as knowledgeable as the member who is usually here instead of me, Jean-Denis Garon, an economist. I hope my questions won't come across as too simplistic.
I will preface my questions by telling you that, from the outside, it often looks as though there's a double standard when it comes to tax evasion and tax avoidance. While the average taxpayer would probably have a hard time finding a tax haven, both the finance department and the CRA are more willing to think about ways to make life easier for major hedge funds and multinationals.
I say that because, given what I know about tax evasion, I am gathering from various sources that you put a mechanism in place allowing multinationals to bring tax-free money back to Canada from tax havens, thanks to the elimination of double taxation on income tax. A regulation was introduced to that effect. Ordinary taxpayers, who don’t have an economics or tax background, see the mechanism as a way to avoid paying taxes.
I would therefore like you to explain what section 5907 of the income tax regulations seeks to achieve, because it lets companies bring tax-free money back to Canada. If the department drafted such a regulation, I assume it benefits somehow. Now I’d like to understand how taxpayers benefit from the regulation on a day-to-day basis.