Mr. Rochon, if I have understood correctly, your role is to advise the government. With the data I have in hand, what I'm trying to do is ensure that there's a level playing field for consumers and businesses in Canada. The figures speak eloquently. They say that $1.2 billion over five years could be collected if e-commerce were taxed. If that were to be done, it would be unnecessary to make cuts to other services.
Thank you for having sent a memo this morning from the department that provided various details. However, we have still not received an answer to the question about the 2017 estimate and the amount that could have been collected for the government coffers. I would be grateful if you could send us a reply from the department on this subject.
My next question is for Mr. Hamilton.
Mr. Hamilton, you were kind enough to quickly provide a number of details to the committee members following our meeting on November 17, and I would like to thank you for this.
In response to the question from my colleague Mr. Berthold, you admitted that the Canada Revenue Agency had not required the declaration of GST amounts on imports of digital services. Does this mean that you're going to allow the government to deprive itself of millions of dollars?