Thank you very much, Madam Chair.
Once again I'd like to thank the witnesses who are appearing before us today.
I'd also like to tip my hat to the Department of Finance and the Canada Revenue Agency for the outstanding work they've done during the crisis. I know it was very hard. However, the committee's duty is to try to identify problems so we can learn lessons and improve our performance next time.
First I'll speak to the representatives of the Office of the Auditor General, Ms. Hogan or Mr. Le Goff.
With respect to the goods and services tax and the harmonized sales tax, according to your report, 42% of subsidy applications came from businesses that had collected an average of 18% more GST and HST in 2020 than in 2019.
If the purpose of the subsidy was to assist only businesses that had experienced revenue declines, could we say that objective wasn't achieved in 42% of cases, or should we qualify that view?