The link above is to a petition to the Canadian Government, as requested by Liberal MP Ted Tsu. 25 original signatures are needed. The formulation of this, more work from Lynne Swanson (Blaze) and review by others, sent to Mr. Hsu’s office by Atticus and put into pdf format by Schubert. It is now ready to roll:
PRINT PETITION PAGE — Petition to Canadian Government FATCA
SIGN THE PETITION
Note: SIGN, do not print your name
You must include your full address (printed) including postal code.
Only “hard” copies with original signatures are accepted; do not submit electronically, do not scan, etc.
THEN, GET AS MANY OTHER SIGNATURES AS YOU CAN (limit of four (4) ORIGINAL signatures to a page. Each page must be printed exactly as the link and signature spaces provided; for additional signatures complete new page, etc.)
SEND SIGNED PETITION PAGE(S) to MP Ted Hsu directly:
The Honourable Ted Hsu
House of Commons
Ottawa, Ontario
Canada
K1A 0A6
Note: Sending Mail to a Member of Parliament
Mail may be sent postage-free to any Member of Parliament at the House of Commons address above.
Thanks for your participation and help!
@ Atticus
WELL DONE!
@ Voyons
Do you know what FATCA is? Have you heard about FATCA? Those are great ways to spread the awareness. I’ve used the second question recently with what I hope will be a small success (fingers crossed).
@Voyons! I’m so encouraged by what you are doing and cannot wait for your report about the event Nov. 9!
@Em, yes! When I asked people did they know what FATCA was about, none had heard of it. As I explained it was about a “U.S. law” shoved over the border that would violate our Charter to zero benefit of Canada. The response I got was “Canada will NEVER sign something like that.” Then I told them about the arm twisting and threat made to those who do not go along with this. They ALL signed. Some were so eager and would say “Give me that paper” before letting me even finish explaining to them.
People are calling my house to say “I know a dual citizen, here is his/her number. You need to call and tell them about this.” People are also really upset that they haven’t heard about something so important and why is this being discussed in private talks with the U.S. They want this out in the open.
Just got five more at the grocery store last minute from mostly the people who were working there. Why don’t people know what this is? It is shameful that every single Canadian I spoke with had no idea what this even was. When I explain it to them people are shocked and some think Canada would never sign such a thing. Most are really upset to not have this out in the public for discussion.
I think if most Canadians understood this at all it would be dead on arrival. No one said a word to me that this was even remotely a good thing. Every last person hates the entire idea of this thing. Harper MUST answer Mr. Hsu’s questions. ASAP.
@AtticusinCanada
You must come across as a very trustworthy person. I’d probably have people looking at the top of my head, searching for a tinfoil hat.
@ AtticusinCanada
So that makes how many that you have collected? I can’t keep track.
You may be a trustworthy looking person (?), but you are also letting people in on a secret that the government is keeping from them, and they don’t seem to appreciate the secrecy or its ramifications for all Canadians.
How about you pop out to by some milk and take your petition.
AtticusinCanada,
sincere admiration and thanks for all your work.
Lynne, did all the hard work drafting this version of the petition.
I am not doing hard work. It’s not that people are trusting me. I have the very good advantage of the fact that I live in Mr. Hsu’s district and he is very well liked here. If I start by saying I”m presenting this petition to him I already have their attention.
@Voyons total I sent in 28 signatures. All together from what I can see this group has sent in over 40. The reason I can’t be totally specific is that I know some who have sent signatures but, didn’t give the amount they sent. So hard numbers are 38 with a few more thrown in conservatively just for good measure.
@AtticusinCanada
I’m grateful for the fact that you live in Hsu’s district and are willing to get the job done. I never sign any petitions that I’m unfamiliar with right away, and am especially suspicious if what I’m being told seems far-fetched. I would want to verify that what I’m being told is the truth before I put my name to anything. You must have the ability to inspire trust vs scepticism in short order, that’s all I’m saying.
Thanks bubblebustin!
I dropped them off today or rather had hubby drop them off. Sophie was in the back but, when she over heard the conversation she came out front to take the packet of signatures from him immediately. She has been very, very helpful over the last while. I am very appreciative.
Nice AtticusinCanada, and all who participated!
Getting Petition Signatures at an Event
Strategy/logistics
I had a big round table in the hallway in between the doors to the meeting venue and the entrance to the building, as well as being near the washrooms. That meant that I could helpfully direct people to washrooms and then, having already talked to them once, snag them as they headed back to their meeting. I could also let them know that they couldn’t leave the building before they signed.
At the table there were three ‘stations’ – a larger copy of the text of the petition in a clear plastic page-holder and then a clip board with the petitions to sign. To decorate the table there were four slogans from the list of Protest Signs, the MacLean’s and CanadianBuisness.com articles by Erica Alini, Peter Hogg’s text, the questions asked by MPs Hsu and Brison and of course lots of FATCA Fact sheets with information on the back (where to download more petitions, what to do with them, where to find the other information on the table).
How did it go?
Usually I had to start by explaining what FATCA was. Some weren’t ready to sign without being more up on the situation but did take the fact sheet and said they would read up. It was easy to point out where they could get petitions of their own and hit up their own networks for signatures. It was also very useful being able to point to the Who are ‘U.S. persons’ living in Canada? section of the FATCA Fact sheet to sensitize them to the fact that this is not just the problem of a few Americans living in Canada.
Results
I got 56 signatures at the event, plus three from my family, plus 13 from a meeting earlier in the week. Total 62 which will be sent off after another event this week. There is always the possibility that some of them won’t be accepted. But hopefully some of the people there will download petitions and get signatures.
When I thanked people for signing, some of them thanked me for bringing the subject to their attention.
There were several that said things like, “Oh, I know someone who is in this situation…” How about showing them the site and the petition?
I think that beyond getting signatures, the real value is contributing to waking up Canadians to the fact that FATCA exists and what it could mean to Canada, and that our government is negotiating something behind closed doors.
Suggestions for anyone else with the petition at an event
– Two people would have been better. Some people escaped.
– Watch out for people not putting their postal codes.
Note
There is no cut-off date for getting in petitions (aside from when the government announces what it has negotiated). Mr. Hsu will present the petition as many times as he has a minimum of 25 signatures, but it would be better to have a big push now and then any others that trickle in can be presented as well at a later date.
Question for website
Would it be possible to have a Canadian section under FATCA and include links to the articles published in Canada? Non-US Persons visiting the site won’t easily find the articles that have been published nor the questions asked by MPs Hsu and Brison.
@Voyons,
Wow! That is impressive work! Good to have your report on how you did it and what your experience was like as well.
That is a good idea to have links to articles on FATCA for Canadians. I’d be happy to create a permanent page for them and link to it in the sidebar. I can get the ones from this site, and if you would (and/or anyone) post links to recommended articles in other media, those could be on it too.
Such a resource sheet (permanent page of links) is good idea for other topics as well, and not only for Canadians of course. So, that’s an invitation to all, too!
Great job, Voyons, and thank you.
@ Voyons
That was an amazing effort. We all thank you very much. This made me chuckle “That meant that I could helpfully direct people to washrooms and then, having already talked to them once, snag them as they headed back to their meeting.” Now we know the list of signatures will be over 100 and there will be more to come.
Some of the articles and info:
Article by Erica Alini:
http://www2.macleans.ca/2013/10/31/think-sharing-bank-data-with-the-u-s-only-affects-canadian-americans-think-again/
or
http://www.canadianbusiness.com/blogs-and-comment/ted-hsu-and-scott-brison-have-questions-about-the-coming-u-s-foreign-account-crackdown-good-questions/
Peter W Hogg, C.C., Q.C. position on FATCA and the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms
http://www.greenparty.ca/sites/greenparty.ca/files/attachments/peter_hogg_fatca.pdf
Text of FATCA questions asked in the House:
http://www.parl.gc.ca/HousePublications/Publication.aspx?Pub=NoticeOrder&DocId=6273224&File=0
Click on Questions under Order Paper and you will find both Q-121 (Mr. Hsu) and Q-127 (Mr. Brison)
File No. 11, October 30, 2013
Voyons,
An awesome effort and result. Thanks so much for reporting your strategy. What event were you able to set up a table, direct persons to the washroom and then give them information and ask them to sign the petition? Were you a volunteer for other aspects of the event and did this as a sideline?
You are good!!!
Incredibly well planned for the venue @Voyons. Very instructive for us if in a similar situation, and very successful.
And IBS site administrators; re the links to the questions by Brison and Hsu, lets also add the predating FATCA and FBAR questions and answers in Parliament to NDP MP Mai’s submission in Parliament on January 26, 2012, which predate these by Brison and Hsu by almost two years now (see http://isaacbrocksociety.ca/2012/03/19/cra-replies-regarding-fatca/ ) and also post the link on IBS to the answers he received – which are hard to find, but which were ‘answered’ by the Dept of Finance, etc. The link to his questions and their answers are here: http://isaacbrocksociety.files.wordpress.com/2012/03/irs-fatca-q-413.pdf INQUIRY OF MINISTRY DATE Q-413 Mr. Mai (Brossard-La Prairie) QUESTION January 26, 2012
One of the federal responses to MP Mai’s questions is particularly important because it pinned down what basis existed for the public statement by Flaherty that FBAR penalties wouldn’t be collected by the Government of Canada for both anyone resident or citizen of Canada.
MP Mai deserves much credit for this, because it far predates the responses we finally got from MP Rankin and NDP Leader Mulcair, and assisted us in trying to verify and elaborate on the public statements made earlier in the media, by Finance Minister Flaherty.
We should compare the answers received by MP Mai and tabled in Parliament, to those we will eventually see from the federal government to MP Hsu and MP Brison.
I had to look back through the comments to refresh my memory about what event Voyons attended. It was: “Eastern Ontario Federal Liberal meeting which will be held in Carleton Place on November 9, from 12 to 5 pm”. Isn’t it great that we have so many irons in the fire right now that it’s getting hard to keep track. 🙂
Indeed it is. Thanks, Em. And, thanks again, Voyons!
@Calgary411
Petition at event follow-up
For starters, MP Ted Hsu is a Liberal who comes from Kingston and the Islands, an Eastern Ontario riding, and is well liked. That makes it easy to drop his name into the conversation with other Liberals, mentioning that he has asked lots of FATCA questions of the government and that a petition would be very supportive of his initiative.
The event earlier in the week was a meeting of the Executive Committee of the local Federal Liberal Association. I asked the president if I could pop in with the petition. It was easy to do since I am a former Exec. member.
The Saturday event was the Eastern Ontario Federal Liberal policy meeting. Eastern Ontario covers 15 ridings. I asked the Eastern Ontario president if would be possible to have a table. The president is also the riding president for Kingston and the Islands. He checked with the chairperson of the event and she said no problem. He also called attention to the petition in his opening remarks. I attended as a party member with a vote on resolutions, but put my energies to directing people to the washroom and getting signatures. When no one was heading for the washroom or outside for a smoke, I loitered in the doorway to the assembly hall and waived my voting card around.
This week I am attending a Liberal dinner and have permission from the association to have a table for the petition.
A question of finding a group that is getting together and finding a hook. Granted it is easy when the petition supports two Liberal MPs’ initiatives.
Additional note for petition at an event:
I went on my own and paid my own way so that the association didn’t lose anything by my spending more energy on FATCA than policies. My being there didn’t prevent someone else from going.
Voyon’s what an incredible effort! I cannot thank you enough. You have gathered so many signatures! I agree the more we send the better and also that these signatures are the key to waking up Canadians. No one I spoke with had heard of this and all were opposed. Only two people I spoke to did not sign. It sounds like you had a similar experience. This is just wonderful and thank you so much again for doing this!
@Voyons,
Great job! 🙂
@ Voyons and Badger,
I made a resource sheet last night (I was going to say bibliography, not sure what the cyber-word is) with the links you provided about FATCA in Canada, a permanent page with a link in the sidebar. Thanks very much! If you, or anyone, has articles of interest, they can be added to it. And of course, this can also be done for other topics as well.
@ Pacifica777
Another link for FATCA and Canada
http://www.greenparty.ca/backgrounder/2013-01-28/backgrounder-canada-and-fatca
Plus the NDP position if it can be tracked down…