Finance committee  No, you can't. As I said, this is an attempt at patching up a system that's, I would say, broken. Countries are moving beyond it. There's been a lot of discussion about what the definition of a permanent establishment would be in different areas. That's really problematic.

Finance committee  Some of the exemptions or reservations that are being suggested, I think, would perpetuate some of those problems.

Finance committee  I do think that we need to look at the system not just in terms of the self-interest of some sectors that might be represented in Canada. Canada is home to about 50% of the mining companies around the world.

Finance committee  Okay.

Finance committee  There is a ton of grey area in the application of legislation and our rules, but whether things constitute aggressive avoidance or evasion in different areas, 50% of Canada's foreign direct investment overseas is in the finance and insurance sector and 25% of our foreign direct investment is in countries that are considered to be tax havens in those ways.

Finance committee  Sorry. Was that a question about whether this...?

Finance committee  Well, you go ahead.

Finance committee  Sure. I could speak a little bit to it, but my main point here is that this is patching up a system that has a lot of holes in it, and we need to move towards a new system in the broader sense of taxing international corporations in this way. I'm sorry—

Finance committee  —but I didn't follow the presentation on Tuesday.

Finance committee  Thank you very much, Mr. Chair, and members of the committee. First of all, I'd like to express my condolences at the loss of a colleague and friend of many of you, former Ottawa Centre MP Paul Dewar. Paul was the same age as me. He was a neighbour and a friend. He always built on the positive side of people and situations all through his life of public service.

Finance committee  This legislation is silent in terms of sharing that information with reporting entities, and the reporting entities are largely in the financial industry. There's the question of whether that would be possible or not, and there's the question of which legislation has precedence on that.

Finance committee  Yes, there is an enforceability. I absolutely applaud the government for bringing forward the more detailed plan that they had before on this, but once you get to.... I also applaud the initiatives in the last budget in these areas. I think it was an historic budget. My concern is that the legislation is extremely short and very thin and that future governments or other governments could interpret this in any way they want.

Finance committee  In terms of the amendments to the Canada Business Corporations Act, some of the language suggests that the registry would just be held by the corporation, and that any replication of it in other forms would not necessarily be verifiable in that way. We've had some conversations with law enforcement and financial industry experts.

Finance committee  Chair and members, thank you very much for inviting us to discuss Bill C-86. There are many positive initiatives in this bill that we are very supportive of, but we are concerned that too many seem half finished and are not fully developed. We're glad to see the Canadian gender budgeting act initiative, but the proposed act is just two pages long and the legislation is very general.

Finance committee  I'll pick up on maybe a couple of issues. I know that the full expensing of capital is a big issue and there are indications there. I think CIBC said, okay, if you're going to do it, do it in as narrow a way as possible. So that's another bank that has said you shouldn't pursue those things.