Mr. Speaker, imagine for a moment that you have been working abroad for a number of years. You spent long periods of time away from your family and have endured many hardships. The only benefit to you was the overseas tax exemption.
Suddenly you find out there has been a big mistake. Even though Revenue Canada accepted your tax returns for all those years, it now turns out that your company and all of its employees did not qualify for the tax exemption. You owe back taxes all the way back to 1991, big time.
In my riding and all through Alberta's oil patch, there are people who now find themselves in this situation. These people should have been advised much sooner.
Revenue Canada was lax in its enforcement and lax in checking the credentials of the companies involved. Therefore, the minister must take another look at such circumstances which allowed this to happen. The minister must do something to offer relief to people who now owe thousands of dollars which they cannot repay.