Thank you very much for that clarification.
I would now like to address the Department and the Agency. A few colleagues and myself have been wondering why it is that we find ourselves in this situation. Our impression is that you got busy when the Auditor General kicked you in the right place. You then set about to put in place a computer system, you provided the follow-up, etc. We are wondering why you did not do this earlier.
The paragraph that surprised me the most in this report is paragraph 3.33. It reads as follows: “Department officials have also told us that undertaking the work to develop and draft technical amendments to remedy identified technical legislative deficiencies is not the Tax Legislation Division's only priority.“ We know full well that the Department of Finance has other priorities. If the Department of Finance's only priority was to ensure that taxpayers know how to fill out their tax returns, that would take the cake! This remains a priority and we are wondering why you felt obligated to tell the Auditor General that you have other priorities. I am guessing that there is within the Department and the Agency a culture such that being as accommodating as possible vis-à-vis the public is not a priority and that had the Auditor General said nothing, you would have done nothing and things would have kept piling up. If we are looking at where to lay blame, I would say that there is an obvious cultural problem, that goes way beyond numbers, that lies just beneath the surface throughout this report.
I would like to know what you are going to do in order to never again be telling the Auditor General that you have other priorities. The point here is to serve the Canadian public with all of the required clarity, and the idea of being in agreement with tax law is a most fundamental issue.