Mr. Speaker, we are happy at Revenue Canada to have the comments of the auditor general. However, the hon. member has exaggerated and used figures which are simply not accurate.
The auditor general said: "Although our analysis is insufficient to draw firm conclusions about cause and effect-more years of data are required to determine if this movement is temporary or permanent in nature".
Electronic filing provides substantial improvements in service to Canadians, to the taxpayer and to the government in terms of reduced costs. It improves the opportunity for effective surveillance to prevent fraud by people who might cheat the system. It also dramatically increases the speed with which cheques get out to the public.
It is a new system introduced in 1990. It is a system on which there are not full information years on which we can base substantial comparisons, but every indication is that the system is working absolutely as well as the previous paper system, except for the advantages I outlined.