Madam Speaker, I would like to thank the Parliamentary Secretary to the Leader of the Government in the House of Commons for his question and comments.
There are many things that we would like to ask the federal government to do for Quebec and the provinces. In matters of tax evasion and tax havens, the exchange of information happens between countries. Therefore, it is the Canada Revenue Agency that has the authority to ask other countries for information in order to conduct investigations. Depending on the wording of tax treaties, the federal government can also delegate this authority to provincial or national entities, such as Revenu Québec. This would allow the Government of Quebec to conduct its own investigations and to negotiate directly with other countries.
There seems to be unanimity in the Quebec National Assembly on tax evasion. This would allow it to move forward. I would remind members that when a tax scheme is discovered in Quebec, there is an automatic 30% penalty. In the United States, a penalty of 50% was levied in the case of KPMG. The Quebec government has a 30% penalty, but the federal government has no penalty. This is practically an incentive for businesses and the wealthy to invent ways to try to avoid paying taxes.