Senator Downe: Yes, obviously, we have the same reading list because I read that report as well. In regard to those reports — colleagues should understand this — the government made a commitment in the last election on the tax gap, and the Canada Revenue Agency, or CRA, is, in my opinion, very slowly doing piecemeal work; that was on the underground economy. They have done a couple of others. What we need is an overall tax gap analysis.

The Parliamentary Budget Officer has requested data from the CRA — not individual names of any Canadians, but just the raw data — and he can estimate an independent tax gap analysis. The CRA has refused to provide that information, and we know, for a host of reasons, that the information provided by the CRA on a number of things has been wrong.

My question is as follows: Is the Finance Committee questioning the CRA as to why they are not cooperating with the Parliamentary Budget Officer — who has asked for that information so that he can tell all Canadians what the real tax gap is?

Hon. Percy E. Downe: Thank you colleagues, and thank you Senator Marshall for your presentation.

I’m wondering if you could advise us if there is an update regarding the Canada Revenue Agency’s continuous refusal to estimate the tax gap — the difference between what we should be collecting and what we are collecting; that is one measurement.

The second measurement tells you how efficient your national tax agency is. As you know, six years ago, the Conference Board of Canada, in a public document, indicated that the tax gap shortfall could be up to $47 billion. We all realize that it’s impossible for the agency to collect all of that, but if they collected half of that, it would solve a lot of problems in this country.

Do you have any update on how that’s going?

Hon. Percy E. Downe introduced Bill S-258, An Act to amend the Canada Revenue Agency Act (reporting on unpaid income tax).

(Bill read first time.)

Hon. Percy E. Downe: Honourable senators, last week, wonderful news was received by all of us who have been involved in the fight against overseas tax evasion and money laundering. On March 22, the Government of Canada introduced in the House of Commons Bill C-42 to establish a beneficial ownership registry in Canada, which addresses most of the concerns of those seeking to solve the ongoing problem of Canada’s worldwide status as a haven for money laundering.

As Jon Allen, member of the Board of Directors of Transparency International Canada, stated when he appeared in December 2017 before the Standing Senate Committee on Banking, Trade and Commerce:

The bottom line . . . [is that] more rigorous identity checks are now required for individuals to obtain a library card in Toronto or Ottawa than for those establishing companies in Canada.

I want to thank Finance Minister Freeland, who was the driving force behind this legislation. Many of us have been after the government for years and years to address this problem, and no previous Minister of Finance would take any action. Minister Freeland not only took action but has proposed a beneficial ownership registry that is free to access, contains verified information, is accessible to the public and is adaptable to include the information held by provinces and territories that decide to participate.

In addition, Minister Champagne, the Minister of Innovation, Science and Industry, has applied his extensive business experience to finalize a very impressive and targeted piece of legislation. This bill, among other things, proposes administrative sanctions and criminal penalties of up to $200,000 and/or six months of jail time for violation of the act.

But for this legislation to be successful, we will need all provinces and territories to participate fully in the fight against money laundering. When this legislation comes to the Senate, we will, as always, do our careful study and review to see if further improvements are needed.

Overall, however, this long-overdue legislation has finally arrived in Parliament and will be a tremendous benefit to Canada when it finally passes. Thank you.