Mr. Speaker, Bill C-15 contains in its schedules a rewrite of the nine income tax amending acts passed between November 30, 1991 and July 1, 1993; that is to make them consistent with the revised Income Tax Act.
Amending acts passed prior to December 1, 1991 were incorporated in the revision of the Income Tax Act and the income tax application rules in the context of the statute revision exercise which forms the fifth and last supplement to the revised Statutes of Canada, 1985, which came into force on March 1, 1994.
Between November 30, 1991 and July 1, 1993 nine acts amending the Income Tax Act were passed. These acts amended the old version of the Income Tax Act, which was in force at that time.
In Bill C-15 the nine amending acts are being rewritten to read as they would have read if the revised version of the Income Tax Act had been enforced when they were passed. Each schedule of Bill C-15 revises one of these nine amending acts.
What needed to be done to bring the form of the amendments in line with the revised version is under question. In English, for instance, where the Income Tax Act once contained a large number of gender related terms, these have now been removed or replaced.
In the French version terminology and style have been improved and standardized to correspond as much as possible to the improvements in the language of the general statute revision of 1985.
The enactment of the bill will bring the revision of Canada's income tax law to a close. It will provide the citizen and the tax community with a uniformly revised, up to date version of the current income tax legislation.
I wish to stress the point that this bill does not amend the substance of the Income Tax Act. Indeed, Bill C-15 specifically provides that this bill shall not be held to operate as new law when it provides that the Revised Statutes of Canada 1985 Act will apply to these schedules.
This is a technical bill that does not create new law and I am seeking the co-operation of the House for its speedy passage.