In fact, I don't think it will negatively impact Canadian business. I think the C.D. Howe report was pretty clear that an increase in the threshold would actually unlock 100 million dollars' worth of red tape costs from Canadian small business.
The reason eBay has been advocating on behalf of small and medium-sized businesses for an increase in the threshold is precisely, to Mr. Geist's point, to remove some of the frictions that are currently applied to Canadian small businesses as they try to transact in the global economy.
I think the playing field is not level precisely because you have Canadian small and medium-sized businesses trying to engage in global e-commerce using a de minimis threshold of $20 that is over 30 years old, set before e-commerce was a thing, competing against American sellers who are facing a de minimis threshold of $800. In fact, I think increasing the threshold to create freer trade for small and medium-sized businesses would be of net benefit to the country. Certainly, it would be of benefit to Canadian taxpayers.
We understand that even with the low enforcement threshold or low enforcement that currently exists, so that most low-value packages coming through the postal channel are waved through, even with that being the case, we know that the Canadian government is spending $170 million to collect $40 million in revenue. There must be a better way to spend those dollars.