Finance committee  Perhaps I'll use the example of Aliant, which has become an income trust. They're a major corporate taxpayer in Atlantic Canada and a major corporate taxpayer in Prince Edward Island, but because so many unit holders of that trust reside outside the region, in my opinion we get p

Finance committee  Thank you very much for your question. Yes, we have, and part of it obviously relates to our population of 140,000 people. What we would stand to gain from growth in personal income tax from unit-holders who may participate in income trusts outside our province but pay provincia

Finance committee  If you look at the correspondence that has been provided to the committee by other finance ministers across the country, they have done estimates on what it has cost their provincial treasuries, of course, from almost a half a billion dollars in one province, down to us. In spea

Finance committee  I wish there were no tax leakage, but, no, the tax leakage is genuine and it's especially a concern for all provincial ministers. As you can appreciate, depending on the size of the economies, those dollars are significant, ranging from $400 million in one province down to what t

Finance committee  No.

Finance committee  We believe the federal finance department is right and we believe provincial financial departments are right.

Finance committee  Thank you very much, Mr. Chairman, and my thanks to the committee members for inviting me here today to provide my province's views on income trusts, as part of your current examination of the issue. I will begin by saying that I have written the federal Minister of Finance, exp