Good morning, Madam Chair.
Good morning to the witnesses.
My first question is for Mr. Guénette. I'm somebody who worked in the agricultural field for almost 40 years, running a business, so I can understand first-hand the challenges involved in passing that business on to the next generation. I went through that process. The business that I was involved in is operated by my son now.
In Bill C-30, we've introduced the $10-million capital gains exemption for employee ownership trusts and worker co-operatives. I think this is a real positive move to allow business owners who reach retirement an opportunity to have that business continue in a small rural community and keep contributing to the community rather than closing.
You outlined in your opening remarks the number of businesses that are closing. Are there lessons to be learned from this measure, which may work for family transfers as well?
In my situation, the $1.25-million capital gains exemption is not adequate to offset capital-intensive industries like agriculture, fishing enterprises or other small family businesses. They're worth a lot more money than they were in the past. Can you speak to that?