Thank you, Chair, and thank you to our guests for coming in today.
I want to narrow-cast this a bit more. We have a problem. If the customer or clientele or the Canadian public are faced with uncertainty, which they obviously are when we don't have clarity in rules or translation of such, they can not be efficient, we can not be efficient, and the nation can not be efficient. If you're not efficient, you're not competitive. You're not competitive to blow on the economy.
I really need an answer here. We have three areas of responsibility. We have the political arm. This has been outstanding since 2001, and various political parties' governments have been responsible somehow, some way, proportionately—I don't know—right through to the current status. On the other hand, you have the departmental and the finance responsibility. Then on the other hand you have the administrative end, or CRA.
Whose fault is it that we are sitting with legislation that is not passed, that is not helping the Canadian public and/or the business community adapt to the realities and have these implementations completed?
It is not acceptable that we went from 2001 to the current day and all we're getting is that “we're going to get around to it” and “we've made some dramatic improvements over this last couple of years”. Well, good; I'm pleased to see that. But we still don't have a process whereby this is passing the legal and/or the political hurdle.
So where do we affix the blame? Is this the politicians' fault? Is it the departments' fault? Is it CRA's fault? Or is it all of the above? I need a direct answer from all of you.
Mr. Rossetti, please.