Finance committee  Once again, I'll ask Mr. Ralston to give you that precision.

Finance committee  If I might explain, these are children in institutions who would otherwise, if they were at home, be getting the child tax benefit.

Finance committee  Perhaps I might add to this, Mr. Chair. My apologies, that's a fair question, and I should have been able to give you the year over year. We'd be pleased to provide that to the committee.

Finance committee  When you look at what's in the increase areas, the only area I can identify where there would be some additional staff is that there is an amount of $18.5 million related to the ongoing implementation of previous budgetary measures. Some portion of that would be related to salari

Finance committee  Mr. Chair, I will ask Mr. Ralston to respond with your permission.

Finance committee  If I may, Mr. Chair, we have over 80,000 registered charities in Canada today--that is, they are registered as charities under the Income Tax Act. The approach we take with charities with respect to compliance with the rules, I think, recognizes the important role they play in Ca

Finance committee  The outreach program is still in its early stages, and in fact, we're seeking money through the main estimates to expand that.

Finance committee  The changes announced under charities regulatory reform were in the 2004 budget.

Finance committee  That's right. It should be, I think, the second year, Mr. Chair. I could confirm that.

Finance committee  I'm not aware of any pattern. There are and there have always been certain charities that run into difficulty. As I said, we work with the charity to try to bring them onside.

Finance committee  With the permission of the chair, I'm going to ask Mr. Ralston to talk about previous years, please.

Finance committee  That's correct. There is not a charge to have your file reviewed by the appeals branch. We consider this an integral part of providing service to Canadians.

Finance committee  We resolve, at the appeal stage, about 95% of our disputes. Now, I should say that some people may not be totally satisfied but are reluctant to go to court for whatever reason, but we also have at the Tax Court something we call an informal procedure that is for amounts under a

Finance committee  Mr. Chair, I think the specific measure you're referring to is the decision to move from walk-in service to a by-appointment service only. This was done for three reasons. First of all, the number of people wishing to walk into our offices for answers has declined over the year

Finance committee  For now, we have no intention of doing so. Software provided by the private sector costs between $6 or $7 to $40. However, pursuant to agreements we concluded with the private sector, approximately 60% of low-income earners have access to the software free of charge. There are