Human Resources committee  I'd say there is a real incentive for all provincial bodies to work together. We have a national qualification program. We have the same national exams from coast to coast to coast. We have the same educational requirements. For the largest numbers of years, within the CGA profession, we've had full mobility.

Human Resources committee  That's a good question. We certainly are now really fully employed. What it's done so far is to help build capacity in our own organization to do this kind of work. We wouldn't have been able to do that without the program. We've had a very generous contribution toward doing that.

Human Resources committee  I just wanted to speak on the regulated professions' point of view on this. You heard the word “harmonization” said I don't know how many times in my script and in the other script. That's because that's kind of the crux of the issue here--that the professions are regulated provincially.

Human Resources committee  In terms of full disclosure, I'm not personally involved in the evaluation, but I can tell you that according to HRSDC data there are about 1,200 to 1,500 immigrants each year who self-identify as financial auditors or accountants. So there are quite a few. I think for us, the CICA has described the assessment process very well.

Human Resources committee  Mr. Chair and members of the committee, I want to thank you for the invitation on behalf of Certified General Accountants of Canada, or CGA Canada. We are a professional association representing 75,000 CGAs in Canada and abroad, including China and the Caribbean. I am pleased to see that our colleagues from the Canadian Institute of Chartered Accountants are joining us today.

Finance committee  Thanks, Denis. Mr. Pacetti, I thank you for your question. If you look at something more simple--I don't get 56.4 either--the total tax contribution survey that was conducted by Pricewaterhouse for the Council of Chief Executives looked at this pot of taxes collected. A total of $10 billion was collected in taxes.

Finance committee  I think there are a lot of ways that we can simplify it, and I think this tax panel needs to spend some time looking at it from every point of view, government and taxpayer.

Human Resources committee  I proposed a period of three years, but that is a completely random number. There would be one year of contributions, and after two years, we might know where we are going. It will be important to take the pulse and study the issue closely to ensure that benefits are not paid at the expense of employers or workers who contribute to the other part of the program.

Human Resources committee  First of all, I would like to say that your questions are important and very relevant. Truth be told, we would have looked at those issues in the context of a special group that was supposed to be set up for that purpose. We were caught a bit short, because the bill moved forward very quickly.

Human Resources committee  Perhaps I can respond first. When we discussed this matter internally, the issue was never raised; it was not a primary concern. As for our members, I cannot say whether they support the idea of extending eligibility to all Employment Insurance benefits. From a more practical standpoint, I have trouble understanding how such a program would work.

Human Resources committee  I would just reinforce that this is the first time we've heard and seen these numbers, and it's certainly a concern to us to see that by 2014 we'd have quite a significant deficit of $78 million. I think some of the things we could see this committee doing would be monitoring and reporting this on a regular basis and keeping tabs on it, because we need to know where we're going.

Human Resources committee  Madam Chair and distinguished members of the Committee, we thank you for giving the Certified General Accountants Association of Canada the opportunity to add its voice to those of the many individuals and organizations in Canada that support Bill C-56, which provides for the payment of special Employment Insurance benefits to self-employed workers, that is, parental benefits and maternity, sickness and compassionate benefits.

Industry committee  Mr. Maloway, I just want to clear something up. Our recommendations would unlikely provide rights to our members that they do not have currently. It's about ensuring that members, those who are providing public accounting services, are qualified and are indeed professional accountants.

Industry committee  It's not the role of federal legislation to set professional ethical standards. That's a role that's been assigned by provincial statute to provincial and territorial regulatory bodies and professional associations. It's a good attempt to do it, and it's important to recognize that auditors have to be independent of the corporation, but you're putting criteria in there that are captured in a larger independence standard.

Industry committee  As I said, the system provides lots of other measures, for instance, the Income Tax Act, money-laundering measures, monitoring of bank deposits, accounting professionals' requirement to declare money received, and so on. Everything's possible.