Welcome, minister. My question is about the small business deduction. Budget implementation bill, 2019, No. 1, proposes eliminating the requirement that sales be made to a farming or fishing cooperative in order to be excluded from corporate income. Since the proposed loosening of the tax rule is limited, many small businesses that are members of cooperatives, such as those in the forestry sector, for example, will be penalized because they must share the deductions with other members of the cooperative.

This is also a disincentive that makes it much less attractive to be a member of a cooperative, which is a soundly proven business model both in urban and rural areas.

My question is as follows: Why do all small businesses that are members of a cooperative not enjoy this same exemption, given that they have the same structure and satisfy the same criteria as Canadian-controlled private corporations?