Mr. Speaker, I would like to answer this question by stating very clearly that this government has acted to stop the situation from repeating.
The government of the day in 1992 issued draft regulations after the court decisions were halted and over with. We passed legislation in 1995 requiring large corporations to specify and quantify their outstanding tax issues. We released the new tax rules for the resource allowance in the 1996 budget.
Of the refunds being issued over this time period, they were anticipated and prudently allowed for in our budgets. Fully two-thirds of the moneys being expended as refunds now is interest. There will be corporate tax, mostly at the top corporate tax
rate, payable on this interest. Therefore the government will be getting some of this money back in its pocket.