Thank you very much, Auditor General. Again, welcome this morning.
We know how important e-commerce is to the Canadian economy, even more so to Canadian consumers. I looked this morning at the October spending statistics for Mastercard that I receive on a monthly basis, and they estimate that about 21% of all retail sales in Canada were generated by e-commerce. I anticipate that during the Christmas period, the holiday period, you'll see an even greater uptick in terms of e-commerce spending, particularly in light of the situation at this unique time we're in, in this country and the world's history.
I do wish to reference Commissioner Hamilton in terms of the Canada Revenue Agency's detailed action plan.
Thank you for the work over at the CRA over the last several months with regard to COVID and ensuring that all Canadians receive their benefits and credits and also for the extraordinary assistance that was provided in the work between yourselves and the Department of Finance.
With regard to the estimated losses in the GST on foreign digital products and services sold, relative to the actual GST/HST tax gap, I am curious to see how the agency is developing a dedicated compliance strategy to better detect and address non-compliance with GST/HST. If you could elaborate on that, that would be great.
Thank you.