Thank you, Madam Chair.
I'll summarize the current situation to make sure that I've understood it.
After that my questions will be for Mr. Rochon.
At the moment, the Minister of Finance is responsible for establishing a fiscal balance. According to the report of the Auditor General of Canada, based on the 2017 audit, there is a fiscal imbalance because the federal government has foregone $169 million in lost GST revenue by failing to tax digital products.
This places Canadian suppliers at a disadvantage, even though the government claims it would like to support them. People buy online because of the lower cost. Sixty-two per cent of Canadian consumers say they make purchases online. Online businesses are mainly located outside of Canada, and this enables them to buy at lower cost.
This practice leads to a fiscal imbalance because the federal government can't require foreign suppliers to collect sales taxes under the current e-commerce taxation measures. There are therefore job losses at vendors who carry out their operations from physical locations in Canada and Quebec. This leads to an economic imbalance because there's less money coming into government coffers. The federal government therefore has to decide whether to make cuts to public services or increase taxes.
I'm trying to understand, Mr. Rochon. Is my reading of the situation correct? Are there other factors relative to the fiscal balance and the tax base that need to be explained in more detail?