Finance committee  That is why we are here.

Finance committee  Mr. Chair, we are very clear about this matter. We spoke about this in our presentation. Self-employment is a reality of our economy stemming from globalization and job specialization. This is a growing reality today. Data from the 2009 labour force survey indicated that there were 2.8 million self-employed workers as of October 2009, and that this group considered itself—and this is important—to be entrepreneurs.

Finance committee  The issue we have today is the interpretation of that provision. That interpretation can be different for this guy or that guy, or for me or somebody else. So it is an interpretation. That's the first element. The second element is that they're going beyond the relationship stated between the parties.

Finance committee  Mr. Chairman, certainly those present at the table today are all Quebec entrepreneurs.

Finance committee  That is the issue we've been fighting in Quebec, here in Ottawa. I am convinced, though, that those same principles are applied elsewhere in Canada. Like you—you said you had never heard of the issue—we had never heard about the issue, and probably other self-employed have never heard of the fight that the computer industry self-employed are currently taking on in this respect.

Finance committee  There are two elements to your comment. There's one that Mr. Paillé raised as well. On the implementation of computer programs, software, what we're talking about is a huge CRM--customer relationship management--enterprise resource product. They're huge financial monitoring systems and they take months and months to implement.

Finance committee  Certainly. Also, IT professionals are not the only ones being sued. Today, you are hearing the situation for people in IT because it is the most striking aberration, in our opinion, given the structure of our industry. There are certainly other self-employed workers who are being denied self-employed status, who are considered employees and who are being assessed by revenue agencies.

Finance committee  Ms. Jennings, without having read the text of the motion as such, the interpretation by the Canadian courts, be it the Supreme Court or the Federal Tax Court—is very clear. Essentially, there are provisions to deal with fraud or tax evasion. However, this case is about the way industry imposes operating procedures.

Finance committee  Thank you, Mr. Chairman. First of all, I gave the clerk a letter from the Association québécoise des informaticiennes et informaticiens. They represent more than 1,000 computer people involved in the industry in support of CFIB's position. What we have tried to present, Mr. Chairman, is the reality of the industry, which is imposing on those self-employed contracts the fact that they be incorporated, and now, because we're questioning their incorporation, they are squeezed by the agency.

Finance committee  Thank you, Mr. Chairman. My name is Richard Fahey and I am the Senior Vice-President of Strategic Development at the CFIB. My organization represents 105,000 SMEs across Canada, of which 24,000 are in Quebec. Out of this number, we have approximately 11,000 self-employed members in Canada of whom 3,000 are in Quebec, making this the largest national association of self-employed workers.