Good day to you. I am Philippe Noël, Senior Director of Public and Economic Affairs with the Fédération des chambres de commerce du Québec. With me is my colleague, Mathieu, a Senior Consultant with Public and Economic Affairs.
The FCCQ represents 132 chambers of commerce, 1,100 corporate members and a total of 50,000 businesses. Our members are active in all sectors of the economy throughout Quebec.
We are the biggest network of business people and businesses in Quebec and we are also the province's chamber of commerce, working to defend our members' interests in matters of public policy.
Thank you for inviting us to testify today on a topic which matters greatly to us, i.e. business competitiveness. As the subject is so vast, our introduction will concentrate on a few principles which are of vital importance to us, and then we will answer any questions you may have.
Firstly, our members believe that in order to increase competitiveness, we have to review certain measures currently in place and lessen the regulatory and administrative burden. The current crisis is actually an opportunity to get rid of measures that harm entrepreneurship, measures that were part of the reforms on private corporations taxation. Because of the reforms introduced in 2017, it is still more advantageous in terms of taxation to sell one's business to a stranger rather than a member of one's own family. By selling his or her business to a son or a daughter, an entrepreneur loses tax benefits of up to $860,000 which he or she would be entitled to if the business was sold to a stranger, which is nonsensical given the need for business succession.
Let us not forget that 23% of current business owners in Quebec are planning to sell their business over the course of the next few years, and that one third intend to transfer the business to a member of their family. I should also remind you that the Standing Committee on National Finance recommended in its report...