Public Accounts committee  They wouldn't in the second case--

Public Accounts committee  Thank you. If I might, I would break the types of amendments or issues into two parts. Our comfort letters are our undertakings to recommend to our minister technical changes to the income tax legislation. Those letters are directed at specific taxpayers. They are almost always transaction-specific, so the concern or the issue will be limited to them.

Public Accounts committee  Again, as far as the comfort letters are concerned, we would work with Canada Revenue Agency to seek to encourage them to consider that comfort letter in their debate or argument with the taxpayer, and our belief would be that Canada Revenue Agency would take the comfort letter into account, so it ought not to be an issue or a subject of a debate.

Public Accounts committee  In the first case, no, not necessarily. It might be a case in which they would seek to have the taxpayer file a waiver to keep the taxation year open until the comfort letter is passed.

Public Accounts committee  Yes; it ultimately requires that Parliament enact the implementing legislation, absolutely.

Public Accounts committee  I don't know the answer precisely, but we would hope, as a department, to be caught up this year or next.

Public Accounts committee  Yes. To be clear, the new processes for improving the filing will, we believe, be an improvement. But it's not that the current system, at least in terms of our collating information, failed to achieve its desired purpose. Right now we have, in the old technical bill, about 100 comfort letters, plus or minus, in what was Bill C-10.

Public Accounts committee  It will of course be up to the Minister of Finance and the government as to what legislation they intend to release. What we are working to do is to prepare for the government's consideration smaller packages of technical amendments that can go forward and have us get caught up.

Public Accounts committee  No, it is indeed expressed to have effect as of 2007 and forward. If it's enacted in that form, it would take effect from that time.

Public Accounts committee  Forgive me, Mr. Chairman. Is this a question relating to the non-resident trust proposals again?

Public Accounts committee  Oh, yes. I'm sorry. The point that presumably was made by witnesses from the Department of Finance at prior committee hearings about the non-resident trust and foreign investment entity rules would indeed have been that they perform a deterrent effect. We still think they will have that effect.

Public Accounts committee  Mr. Chairman, first of all, it is the Department of Finance the reference in paragraph 3.33 refers to. Second, it did not say that it was not a priority. It said that addressing those technical legislative deficiencies was not the department's only priority.

Public Accounts committee  Well, in fact the budget and other things are among our priorities.

Public Accounts committee  The direct answer is no. I don't think we have a cost, but I think I can offer some observations to help inform the discussion. First of all, in relation to the technical bill itself, technical bills generally are generally made up of comfort letters that are relieving changes by definition.

Public Accounts committee  I'm not certain I take your point that there was a breakdown. I certainly recognize that it's been a long while since there's been a package of technical amendments implemented, but it's important to review the history of this. We have said or acknowledged that it would be desirable to have a package of technical amendments issued annually.