Thank you.
I'll begin by thanking you for the invitation to appear before the Standing Committee on Public Accounts. I am here with Andrew Marsland, as Madam Chair noted at the outset.
On behalf of the Department of Finance, I want to thank the members of the committee for examining the 2019 Spring Reports of the Auditor General. I also want to say that the department appreciates the work of the Office of the Auditor General as well as the open and frank dialogue that we have with the office.
With regard to Report 3 on the “Taxation of E-Commerce”, the retail landscape in Canada has been changing for a number of years as more people make purchases online, and more businesses embrace online platforms for reaching customers and selling their products or services. This has been particularly true of late as the pandemic—which forced many of us to self-isolate at home—has accelerated this trend.
Madam Chair, as you know, the Department of Finance provides policy advice to ministers with a view to ensuring that the tax system is fair, efficient and competitive. As the report notes, the department has monitored the e-commerce sector with a focus on what the rapid growth in e-commerce means for our tax systems.
We've done extensive work in this area and will continue to do so. In particular, we continue to work closely with the OECD and other countries on examining approaches to ensuring that tax systems continue to work effectively as the digital economy gains in importance in all of our economies.
In closing, I want to thank the Auditor General for underscoring the importance of e-commerce to our tax system and for this report, and I'd be happy to answer any questions that you might have.
Thank you.