Rumour has it that some people associated with the Issac Brock Society, attended a Diane Francis lecture and book signing event held Dec 4, 2013 in Toronto. The attendees included: IRSCF, Gwen and friend, Tricia, and a Brocker sympathizer who will be called “Gordon.” Although the attendees seem to feel that discussion of this event, given the presenter, is not deserving of a thread of its own, I disagree, and am posting this on their behalf.
A photograph of the vehicle Ms. Francis flew in on, and the experiences described to me by the attendees follow.
OUTSIDE:
Outside the lecture hall, Gwen and friend handed out copies of three pamphlets, one of which was an article by Blaze published in Diane Francis’ own newspaper, the National Post (re-entitled “FATCA-We are not tax cheats”). Happily, the pamphlets could be seen to be read by the audience inside the lecture hall. Tricia overheard one of the organizers say to Ms. Francis that 56 people would be attending.
INSIDE:
Inside, three Brockers were strategically placed and separated from each other to increase the likelihood that they would be called upon during the question period.
THE TALK:
The talk itself was an argument that Canada should merge with the U.S. However, Francis actually (unintentionally) made a much stronger argument that Canada should merge with China: “China has the smartest government in the history of the world. The U.S. and Canada have too many checks and balances in the system making it hard to get anything done. The government of China very specifically supports its companies and citizens abroad. This is the key to their success.” [Unlike the U.S. which of course persecutes it citizens abroad.]
Francis’ arguments were based on economies of scale: Canada is too small to be a player and needs the protection of a bigger partner. But, since Francis admires China, then that partner should reasonably be China.
In her talk it was clear that Ms. Francis completely misunderstood the civil war origins of citizenship-based taxation, which she incorrectly believed had begun with prohibition.
QUESTION PERIOD:
Tricia and IRSCF asked two of the four questions that followed Diane Francis’ lecture.
Tricia began her question by establishing that, like Ms. Francis she had been a dual, was from the Midwest, with a German background, and moved on to: “You’re on record for supporting FATCA.” Ms. Francis stopped Tricia by saying that she had not said anything like that. Ms. Francis was clearly uncomfortable about FATCA, did not want to talk about it, and stated her strong belief that those who are supposed to file US tax forms should pay, etc. [see below for comments by IRSCF and Gordon on Ms. Francis’ FATCA statements.]
Tricia, and the other Brockers at the lecture, were completely taken aback by Ms. Francis’ apparent effort to separate herself from FATCA, and Tricia was unsure how to move forward with her question. Tricia then commented that on a philosophical/moral level, Canadians would feel that the U.S. could certainly not be trusted given situations such as Gitmo, torture, etc. Ms. Francis responded by saying that in this event, rather than a full merger, the thing to do would be to move to a European Union model.
IRSCF attempted with his question to influence Ms. Francis to acknowledge publicly, for the very first time, that US imposed citizenship based taxation (CBT) seriously harms innocent Canadians, but he was not successful. Francis would only admit that she (alone) had been harmed by CBT by having to fill out tax forms for the IRS. She also said that ignorance of the foreign tax laws is no excuse, and that if one does not like US tax laws one should renounce. IRSCF then explained that the process of renouncing is not simple, and that there is the problem of the Reed Amendment etc,. Unfortunately due to the insistence of the moderator, the ‘discussion’ ended.
DOES MS. FRANCIS HAVE AWARENESS OF FATCA?
After receiving a copy of the book signed by Ms. Francis, each Brocker handed Ms. Francis signed copies of “FATCA, We are not tax cheats,” “FATCA, we are not myths,” and “USA to invade Canada. AGAIN!”, hoping that Francis would find the information to be helpful and educational.
In response to Tricia’s question about FATCA, IRSCF felt that Francis responded in part by saying, “What is FATCA?” Gordon agrees that Francis replied in a way that did not admit to knowing what FATCA is, and Gordon comments: “She clearly did NOT want to discuss it. I am not sure why. I just remembered in her answer that she specifically said that she did NOT say that she supported FATCA. This is different from saying that she didn’t support FATCA though. Frankly, I think that she is an [deleted] and just accepts that FATCA is somehow related to tax evasion. But, even if it isn’t (related to tax evasion), as an admirer of China, she would approve of the authoritarian nature of it”.
IRSCF, still mulling over Diane Francis’ apparent lack of understanding of FATCA, continued to press this issue with her at the book signing. Following two (three?) more attempts at questioning there appeared to be some limited understanding from this editor of the Financial Post that FATCA had something to do with ensuring that taxes would be paid to IRS from dual citizens in Canada.
Tricia was the last person in the book signing line and as she handed Francis some FATCA pamphlets she said “I have something for you about FATCA” which provoked a smile from Ms. Francis.
Ms. Francis must have been disappointed at the poor turnout as the original room that was selected seats 400 people. There were nice snacks and drinks, and the Brockers had pleasant conversations with others. Tricia spoke to a lady who dealt with FATCA at a bank, and who said she felt that FATCA was a complete disaster and that she was not the least bit supportive about the idea of a merger between Canada and the U.S.
Brockers left the event wondering whether Diane Francis might not be the brightest of the senior business editors at Canada’s Financial Post.
@WhiteKat
Thanks for the reminder that FATCA itself isn’t the only train-wreck out there. Good grief, Canada’s media can do a lot better job than this. Diane Francis is clearly way past her best before date.
Thanks for writing that up, as I found it interesting. Not sure what to make of her position, or attempt to avoid FATCA discussion, but the questions and the handouts assured that a few more folks then before knew something about FATCA
BRAVO!!! Thank you for the efforts and being there. Please, let me know with as much lead time as possible for the next protest or outing or anything I can do. Thanks again for doing this, it will not go unnoticed!
Just an update. Over 1500 people have seen Gwen’s work on display and several have asked where they could get more information. The Issac Brock website was given to them. There are about 300-400 people seeing this per day, lets hope for making Fatca a national issue with a voice.
@ WhiteKat
A really great write up. Also thank you to IRSF, Tricia, Gwen and Gordon for going and being so, courageous and handing out brochures and sheets.
Francis transportation was a nice limo.nice pic. Perhaps the Financial Post will take note of this night.
Happy to hear that the one lady who dealt with FATCA thinks it is a disaster.
AND Canada merge with China!!!!! No thank you.
Thank you to those who attended. I’d like to know how and when specifically Ms Francis found out about her obligations to file US tax returns. There was mention elsewhere that she found out shortly after moving to Canada. What was her reason for not knowing, and was she late in filing? Did her particular circumstances cause her to make a reasonable cause plea to the IRS? If so, then we can certainly dispute her assertion that “ignorance of the foreign tax laws is no excuse” for not filing – just not one for owing. That distinction alone can amount to tens of thousands of dollars for many – I wonder what it saved her if she was tardy in her reporting?
@NativeCanadian,
Thanks for posting the FATCA fact sheet and the two articles written by Blaze, where they will get so much visibility!
And thank you to everyone who played a role in gathering all that information into a readable format and a pleasing visual display.
Thanks especially to Blaze for her two published articles ‘FATCA: We are not Myths’, and ‘Dual Canadian-American Citizens: We are not tax cheats’
Also, thank you to Victoria, our Brocker friend from France, who kick started the original FATCA fact sheet, and to all the Brockers who chimed in to create a Canadian version of the fact sheet (Calgary411, and Em immediately come to mind, but there are many others ).
And of course, thank you to Gwen for adding the graphic touch that really made all these writings stand out and grab the readers’ attention.
Thanks, you four, for attending the Diane Francis book signing. Good work on your part — and you stayed focused and classy, asking exactly the right questions regarding FATCA. (Glad to see there was not great Canadian support by turn-out for the book signing.) Thanks for posting on their behalf, WhiteKat!
I wonder, too, her knowledge and buy into the TPP US corporate, behind-closed-doors “negotiations”: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bPIsjH25GHo&feature=youtu.be&desktop_uri=%2Fwatch%3Fv%3DbPIsjH25GHo%26feature%3Dyoutu.be&app=desktop
China and Canada,eh? Guess Justin Trudeau should feel vindicated.
Perhaps Ms. Francis, like others, are beginning to realize that FATCA is too toxic to discuss and still hope to implement?
@Northernstar, Most of the words are not mine. I was the copy/paste person for the reticents. 🙂
@ all
I recommend watching you tube video:Peter Schiff:Why Canada Will Divorce the U.S. and Marry China
@Border Baby…
Do you mean this one?
http://youtu.be/mCM7Qj6W_wQ
It’s funny to me (in addition to be telling in a sad way) that a discussion about the Canadian economy is mostly about the American economy with its debt and currency manipulation and its foisting of its ponzi on to the world.
That’s FATCA in a nutshell too. It’s the USG foisting itself on the rest of the world in a last ditch effort to rope and tie as many countries as it can before the whole scheme blows up.
Diane Francis just loves to cover scandals and even writes books about them. She has a book about the biggest fraud in this century: Bre-x
This from her web site;
http://dianefrancis.com/books/bre-x-the-inside-story/
Anyone who knows the Bre-x story will remember her from 15 years ago
Now she can write a book on the biggest tax fraud ever…FATCA
She used to post on Silicon Investor back in 1997 but has since covered her tracks by having SI remove all her posts.
http://www.siliconinvestor.com/subject.aspx?subjectid=15732
She certainly doesn’t get everything right by any stretch. Just before Christmas 1997 she went on Ted Koppel and announced that she thought that Michael DeGuzman was still alive. I remember this too. Also the media she was part of hyped Bre-x to the limit if I recall.
(Michael de Guzman was the chief geologist that was thrown out of a helicopter over Busang Borneo around the time that Freeport MacMoran discovered the hoax.
http://money.cnn.com/1997/05/05/companies/brex/
cool. weird.
Hey Diane, In case you missed this “The FBAR SCAM”
http://americansabroad.org/files/5713/3589/8010/fbarscam.pdf
Now how do you feel?
@Native America
I want to thank you for all your work in alerting your friends and family. It seems you greatly helped many who did not know about FATCA.
@Clear Big Eyes
Thank for putting up the pdf THE FBAR SCAM. I had not seen this before. This should be sent to Obama and every American Congressman. Maybe even our Canadian politicans and CRA.
Canada is in the same place as the UK. People talk of mergers, but Canadians would never be happy being subservient to Washington.
Canada would be happier being part of the EU than the US.
@ Don
Canada would be happier merging with the Turks and Caicos than the USA. All that sunshine and no hassle getting there. 🙂
http://news.nationalpost.com/2013/07/01/its-a-whole-new-world-could-turks-and-caicos-be-like-a-tiny-nunavut-or-canadas-11th-province/
@Don
CANADA is more like EU in many than the USA.
@Em
Yes, I would go for a Turks and Caicos merger with Canada.
Turks & Caicos? Most definitely, I’d go for a merger with them as opposed to a merger with the Useless States of Absurdity.
The only problem that I see with the T&C merger is the national defence aspect. We have a very small Navy in comparison to the United States and national defence will be a big problem if we have a province that is 8000km from the nearest mainland Canadian city.
Pingback: The Isaac Brock Society | Happy Birthday Isaac Brock Society!