Industry committee  Mr. Vincent, I don't have much to add. It's true that such a situation might arise. We assume that people are smarter than that, obviously.

Industry committee  The Act provides measures. I'm far from being an expert in suspicious operations, but I believe that various bank deposits or any other such operation would trigger an alarm, thus preventing corporations from acting in such a way. They might do it once, but I'm not sure it would work in the long term.

Industry committee  No, it doesn't. It really has nothing to do with our members. It has to do with simplification and consistency in federal legislation.

Industry committee  Yes, that's correct.

Industry committee  “Public accountant” and “public accounting” are defined in very many ways in provincial legislation, but the terms are not generally used in federal legislation that we've looked at.

Industry committee  Thank you, Mr. Lake, for your question. Actually, yes; in the spirit of time, or to ensure that we didn't run out of time, we really did focus on the top two of our three recommendations, and our top two concern, that second requirement, the independence required. But we have had discussions with the department and with the minister's office and others about the use of the term “public accountant”.

Industry committee  It is used in other jurisdictions, but it means different things according to which jurisdiction you're in. It's not used in federal legislation, like the Bank Act, the Elections Act, the CMHC Act. It's not used. The word “auditor” is used in that legislation. It becomes even more complex when you switch to the French, because in French they use the expression “expert comptable” when I think they want it to mean “public accountant”.

Industry committee  I'm sorry; you must be so confused.

Industry committee  We've had the benefit of a few years of study of this bill. I've seen different incarnations of the bill. We had the benefit, of course, on the independence standard, to see the development and evolution of the standard, which is why we've now come back seeking an amendment in that aspect.

Industry committee  Same thing.

Industry committee  Thank you for your question, Mr. Bouchard. As I mentioned in my opening remarks, in the aftermath of the corporate failures, there was a complete review of the standards that apply to professional accountants. This did not take place in isolation. I can't tell you where the process began, but it is the one in which all accounting bodies, be they Canadian, American or European—they have many international affiliations—developed their independence standards.

Industry committee  Thank you for your question. As I mentioned, there are actually three requirements to be met by public accountants in order for them to practise or give their opinion on the financial statements of an organization under this Act. The first one is to be a member in good standing of an institute or association of accountants.

Industry committee  I'd say the Bar Association has done a little more work than we have on this area, but we looked at it from a very holistic point of view. Our conclusion was that a one-size-fits-all approach didn't fit the sector. We number 19,000 organizations. I sit on three of those 19,000, and they are three very different organizations that solicit funds from very different areas.

Industry committee  Thank you, Mr. Chairman and honourable members. Mr. Chairman and Honourable Members. Thank you for your welcome this afternoon and for the opportunity to appear before this committee to talk about Bill C-4, An Act respecting not-for-profit corporations and certain other corporations.

Industry committee  On the second part of your question, I have a very simple answer. It's not an issue we've looked at in terms of barriers, but I can tell you that the capacity of the services sector to improve Canada's competitiveness internationally exists. I think the committee has heard other witnesses talk to that issue.