Mr. Speaker, the revenue department is sensitive to the losses to ice storm victims in eastern Ontario, parts of Quebec, New Brunswick and Nova Scotia.
To assist Canadians in areas affected by the ice storm, in the interest of fairness and flexibility, the department is offering relief to the taxpayers who received financial assistance to help them through their period of hardship. Ice storm victims will not have to include the amount of assistance in their income when they file their 1998 income tax returns. The employers who gave financial assistance to their employees will be able to deduct those payments as business expenses.