Finance committee  I assume that there are people from the U.S, the U.K., and Japan who would argue that it does make sense. The observation we have, in addition to the one I've made, is that in our regime, by providing an exemption for foreign business profits, we help the competitiveness of our f

Finance committee  No, that's not the policy proposal.

Finance committee  I want to be careful not to characterize them as loopholes or having been opened or closed—

Finance committee  Yes, I believe you're referring to some changes that were made in 1994 to our listing rules for tax treaties to make sure there was a treaty in effect for exempt surplus treatment to apply, corresponding with the actual treaties we had in place. There was not an intention to affe

Finance committee  I think the summation of my answer is that I can't, that is true. There have been a lot of numbers thrown around on the effects of the budget proposal. It is not clear to us that those estimates are entirely accurate. Indeed, it's a difficult thing to measure. While the Canada

Finance committee  I think it was in 1980.

Finance committee  I think it does enter into the consideration that goes into determining whether to have tax treaty negotiations and seek to get a tax treaty, because in the absence of tax in the other jurisdiction, one of the objectives of a tax treaty--to eliminate the risk of double taxation,

Finance committee  As one of the factors, yes.

Finance committee  Probably you're referring to international business corporations, IBCs.

Finance committee  You'll be expecting I'm always saying I can't give you a straight answer. The international business corporations were in place when we negotiated the treaty with Barbados in 1980. A reference is explicitly made to them in that treaty.

Finance committee  Without wanting to convey an impression I'm an authority on all of the factors that went into this, I think there are at least two things that could have borne upon it. One is that there's just greater foreign investment by Canadian companies and other companies throughout the wo

Finance committee  I've forgotten.

Finance committee  I'm sorry, Brian, but we were diverted and I've forgotten the other point.

Finance committee  It has been some time since I checked, but I believe the rate was between 1.25% and 2.5%.

Finance committee  But, sir, just to be fair to our colleagues and friends from Barbados, I'm not sure if that rate has changed in the time since.