Public Accounts committee  It's really up to the committee to determine how how long it wishes to examine a matter. I agree with Mr. Rochon. My role is to provide you with high-quality information so you can make decisions. The question whether a legislative change is necessary is really for Parliament to decide.

Public Accounts committee  It's very hard to compare our tax system to those of different parts of the country and other countries. Each one has a unique tax system. The estimates we made during the audit were really based on available public market information. They're just estimates, an attempt to show the scope of the situation.

Public Accounts committee  For those kinds of details, I'll turn to one of my colleagues, Philippe Le Goff. He can describe the methodology we use in comparing the Quebec data.

Public Accounts committee  As we noted in our report, the tax system has not really kept pace with the rapidly evolving digital economy. The policy change question should be put to the deputy minister, who is here today. We checked to see whether the existing system was neutral. We found that it was unfair in some respects and offered the agencies some options for improving it.

Public Accounts committee  Thank you very much. As you mentioned, it is the first time that I have appeared before the committee to discuss a report. Unfortunately, the report was one that I was not involved in. It was planned, completed and tabled by my predecessor, the interim Auditor General Sylvain Ricard, but I'm very pleased to be here to discuss it.

Public Accounts committee  Thank you, Madam Chair. Thank you for this opportunity to discuss our report on the taxation of e-commerce, which was tabled in Parliament on May 7, 2019. Joining me today are Philippe Le Goff, who was the principal responsible for the audit, and Mathieu Lequain, who led the audit team.

Public Accounts committee  It absolutely can. I'll selfishly ask all of you to let people know we're hiring. They should check out our website.

Public Accounts committee  I know Montrealers. I hear you. Mr. Sorbara, I can give you those numbers really quickly. They are $25 million and $6.6 million for a total of $31.6 million.

Public Accounts committee  Absolutely. Our ask was for $25 million. When you include employee benefit programs and accommodations, it's $31.6 million. However, the $25 million is the only amount that gets added to our funding on an ongoing basis.

Public Accounts committee  The 585 FTEs is without that additional funding. That is our normal workforce. We're usually somewhere between 575 and 600 people. The additional money we asked for would see us adding about 150 FTEs, or 150 individuals, to our workforce. Obviously that will be over time, and the split is between some auditors and support services to be able to continue to support our auditors.

Public Accounts committee  I believe that amount is correct. Andrew can let me know if I'm wrong. It was carried forward. Why did it happen? I think a lot of it has to do with the fact that the majority of our funding is human capital. It is individuals. People come and go, and you can't always predict that.

Public Accounts committee  It just normally happens. We also have to monitor when we get our supply. There's a bit of a risk, and a bit of the funds are always left unspent at the end of the year.

Public Accounts committee  I apologize. I think I made a mistake, as I did not select English. I apologize; I won't do it again.

Public Accounts committee  Well, the data that we provide to committees is really our audit reports, and the best way you can use them is to study them in a timely fashion, to invite departmental officials to discuss how they plan to address the recommendations we may have identified, and ask them for action plans.

Public Accounts committee  When you look at that statistic, you see that it might make it look like reviewing our work went down. But you also have to recognize that in the past we did not table all of our special examinations on Crown corporations. We have started to table those with Parliament, so that they're all accessible in one place for committees to study.