I hope it's all right if I respond in English. There is some detail that I would like to add that I wouldn't provide very well in French, I'm afraid.
First of all, to the point that there are large corporations that are evading taxes, I think that's, let me say, unlikely to be the case. I think large corporations pay particular attention and retain some very expensive advice to try to make sure they are operating within the terms of the law. Sometimes they are able to come up with plans that push the law to the limit. I think that is right. They do that on the basis of pretty good legal advice. Sometimes they're wrong, but I don't think that makes it evasion. That's point one.
Point two is that I think the examination of just a percentage of tax paid fails to capture, in many cases, the reasons there are lower taxes. There could be loss carry-forwards, foreign income that's not subject to tax, or inter-corporate dividends. Sometimes there are incentives in our own system that corporations as well as taxpayers can avail themselves of. I think it is important to be mindful of that as well.
Another point I will make on large corporations, particularly on cross-border or international income, is that the OECD, and we as part of the OECD, are concerned about some of the transactions and structures that are being undertaken to minimize tax. The so-called BEPS exercise, the base erosion and profit shifting undertaken by multinational corporations, is something that the OECD has been working on. It has been the subject of G-20 commentary and support, and indeed there are G-20 countries participating with the OECD to try to develop proposals to constrain base erosion and profit shifting, the sort of tax minimization that happens internationally.
The final point I would make is about the third party penalty rule that the honourable member has identified. I think you should be happy with this rule. We have criminal rules, that is, criminal sanctions for those who evade taxes. We also have criminal rules for those who aid and abet in the evasion of taxes. We had, up until 15 years ago, a civil penalty that applied only to the taxpayer for misrepresentation or other tax non-reporting that was judged not to meet the threshold of tax evasion, but we did not have a civil penalty that applied to the person helping that person avoid taxes. These third party penalty rules that are discussed in the Auditor General's report, the applicability of which is judged by a Canada Revenue Agency committee, are the answer to that. I will note that these are actually under challenge right now in the court, but in terms of the honourable member's question, just based on his stated view, he should be supportive of these because they do help ensure that taxes are paid and that people don't facilitate others avoiding taxes.
Thank you.