Finance committee  I can see where you're going on that. There is a difference in Canada, where you have another layer of government with significant taxing power. The way I see the scheme working would be that, at least initially, it would be a federally driven scheme. As to the personal tax cre

Finance committee  Mr. Chair, thank you for giving us the opportunity to make a presentation before the Standing Committee on Finance, here in St. John's. My name is Ian Russell. I am the president and chief executive officer of the Investment Industry Association of Canada. It gives me great ple

Finance committee  The only point I would add to that, though, is that issue you raised is not really a FATCA issue. It's an issue that would apply to any dual citizen in Canada who is in fact filing a U.S. tax return.

Finance committee  Yes, you're right, Mr. Brison. There is an exemption for those registered accounts under the FATCA legislation, but those individuals who are dual citizens will have to register with the IRS. Their financial details, their income, and their investment income would be reported on

Finance committee  I think you're probably right on that, Mr. Brison, maybe under U.S. tax law.

Finance committee  Yes. I'm not sure how the IRS or the U.S. tax authorities would actually treat the income in those registered accounts for tax purposes.

Finance committee  Yes I do. I think that the intergovernmental agreement and the efforts that the Canadian government made to obtain the most effective tax gathering mechanism possible within the constraints of the FATCA legislation is a credit to a lot of people. I certainly would give a lot of c

Finance committee  We believe that this package of legislation embeds the best possible tax reporting framework for Canadian investors and their financial institutions, and should be passed expeditiously. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Finance committee  Thank you, Mr. Chairman. My name is Ian Russell. I'm president and CEO of the Investment Industry Association of Canada. I am pleased to appear before the finance committee this afternoon to make the case for the passage of part 5 of Bill C-31. This legislative package include

Finance committee  I can hear you fine, Mr. Chair.

Finance committee  Thank you, Mr. Keddy; it's a pleasure to respond to your question. You're quite right, I think, that when you're looking at the decision you would make, you have to take into account the cost-effectiveness of the measure, which is the cost of it to the treasury. The other part o

Finance committee  The point we had been making is that we're not taking issue with EI. In fact, it's not an issue directly related to EI; it is directly related to registered retirement savings plans. They are a bona fide retirement savings vehicle. They are analogous in terms of the function they

Finance committee  The only point I'm making is that we think the payroll deductions should be provided for group RRSPs in the same way they are for other retirement plans.

Finance committee  I'd be pleased to do that. I think the government's strategy to increase dependency on exports is really well placed, at a time when investment spending is down, and at a time when consumer demand is down, except in certain sectors, such as housing, in which it has been very stro

Finance committee  Thank you, Mr. Brison, for the question. The short answer would be yes. As you point out, the flow-through share concept, which has been in the mining industry for about 30 years, has been hugely successful as a cost-effective vehicle for small mining companies and oil and gas c