Don Stewart

Thanks, Mr. Chair. It is a benefit that is done through the income tax system, same as the Canada Child Benefit. There is always concern with the filing rates, and we keep a pretty close eye on that. I can say that, by all reasonable sort of analyses based on population estimates and those sorts of things, we believe that it is certainly over 95 per cent that we are picking up. We can't know with absolute certainty around that because, obviously, population estimates are estimates, as well, but it appears like we have got pretty good coverage.

One of the areas that we do work with the CRA on...

Thanks, Mr. Chair. I believe those are set in regulation, but I would have to confirm that. That is my understanding is that it is a regulation and under the federal system, but we will confirm that, and we can get back to the Member on that.

Thanks, Mr. Chair. I think we are in a position to be able to come to standing committee now and talk about the options that might be available to us. I think the option that we will probably be recommending to the Minister is related to looking at the types of investments that are currently set out and then possibly getting some external help with the management side of that. When the Heritage Fund was set up, it was very conservative in terms of the types of things. You look at other funds, including some that are operated by the Legislative Assembly, that allow much more, I do not want to...

Thanks, Mr. Chair. So one of the next steps we are undertaking, and I know departments have been working on that, is the detailed proposals around any forced growth or additional pressures they'll have, whether it's around some of the things that the Member mentioned, around enforcement, as well as public awareness and health programs, and those sorts of things. The actual administration side of cannabis, in terms of the costs around distribution and what the Liquor Commission would be involved in, is not a major cost driver, but I think, as the Member identified, it's the other areas around...

Thank you, Mr. Chair. So there were three main components to the review that the Minister had directed us to undertake. One was looking at the enforcement and licensing capacity, and the first was to recruit a new board chair. We were very pleased that we were able to find a highly qualified board chair, Ms. Sandy Aitken, and she has certainly taken up the challenge and is working well with the rest of the board members.

We are working with the board now to look for some board training opportunities in areas where they feel that that could be helpful to them, and then we are looking at the...

Thanks, Mr. Chair. Yes.

Thanks, Mr. Chair. There was a rebalancing, if you like, between contract services and fees and payments; but I will just let the Member know what's in contract services. The main bulk of the money for contract services under human resources is for the Employee and Family Assistance Program and for the Leadership Development Program that we get support from elsewhere. Under fees and payments, there is the regional recruitment program, the new training positions funding that the Minister spoke of, and an Aboriginal development fund that we use to support specific training for Indigenous staff...

Thanks, Mr. Chair. In our taxation division, there are tax auditors in that group, and they are pretty much constantly auditing various filers to look at their records and making sure that we are getting the level of tax.

It's not so much an audit of the entirety. It's a rotating audit of all of the various tax collectors that we would have on those, as well as some of the big payroll tax payers and those sorts of things. We have a unit where that is their business, to do those audits with businesses and with tobacco tax folks. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Each department tends to have an access to information coordinator to deal with their own individual requests that come in for information from their department. The function within Justice sets the overall policy frame and coordinates across government, but each department has their own staff, who are usually related to records, that help answer those questions as they come in and get the records and those sorts of things. Thanks, Mr. Chair.

Thanks, Mr. Chair. So, when we forecast the take from personal income tax as well as corporate tax, we work with Finance Canada. I think the Member can appreciate that you do not have the full benefit of all of the tax filing when you are doing those estimates.

In the case of the 20172018 revised estimates, where the personal income tax went down quite significantly, the reality is that Finance Canada had overestimated the amount. What they discovered is that there were some, what they described as, “tax behaviours” that they did not account for, that were a result of some of the changes at the...