Mr. Speaker, this is of interest to a large number of Canadians. It is an issue that has been brought to the attention of the Minister of Finance.
The background is that we updated our treaty with the U.S. specifically to get rid of double taxation and also to let us recover OAS going to high income seniors just as we do in Canada.
We have these taxation provisions in place with other countries such as Germany, France and Austria. The large number of Canadians receiving U.S. benefits makes this a very special case. This is a concern to us and we have raised the issue with Canadian and U.S. officials.
After this communication the Minister of Finance will be speaking this week to his counterpart in the U.S., Mr. Rubin. I anticipate that either I or the minister will keep the House informed of the progress on this important issue.