Thank you, Madam Chair.
My question is for both Mr. Noël and Mr. Lavigne from the Fédération des chambres de commerce du Québec.
Before getting involved in politics, I worked for the Union des producteurs agricoles, the UPA, as the secretary of the Syndicat de la relève agricole d'Abitibi—Témiscamingue, which is a part of the Fédération de la relève agricole du Quebec network.
At the time, one of the most important issues of the day was business succession, especially for farms, and we are still talking about it 10 years later. You spoke of this earlier and I would like to hear what you have to say on the subject.
Nowadays, it is more advantageous for an entrepreneur to sell his or her business to a third party rather than to members of his or her own family. Canadian law states that the transfer of a business to a family member is considered a dividend, and not a capital gain, as opposed to selling the business to a third party. Therefore, the owner is not entitled to a long-term capital gains exemption if he or she decides to sell the business to his or her children.
What are the negative consequences of this regulatory burden on business succession, which goes beyond the next generation of farmers, obviously?