44 thoughts on “D-Day. Today?”

1. Forwarded to all NDP MPs and Elizabeth May.

2. I don’t get the sense this is an actual signing of an agreement. There is no announcement of an agreement on the US Embassy website nor does it appear that there will be a press availability with Flaherty himself. What this is though is hard to say.

   Telling the public they are going to sign a bad before they actually sign it is not that politically smart as they will simply increase the public pressure on themselves without any benefit of a signed deal in hand.

3. Just a little over 45 minutes from now if I converted the time correctly (it’s 7:15 here in the Paris area).

   Crossing my fingers that this is not about the IGA being signed but about the issues around FATCA in Canada (and by extension, all around the world).

   Keep us posted…

4. …and I sent to James Fitz-Morris and Amber Hildebrandt, CBC reporters who interviewed me. They likely already know!

5. One additional possibility is this is the announcement of them going the New Zealand route by putting out domestic legislation ahead of an agreement. Stupid politically but hey New Zealand did it.

6. OMG OMG. this is 7PM GMT. in London UK…. only 39 minutes left…… I will be watching this site tonight I can tell you . fervent prayer not an IGA

7. @all,
   If this is a Canadian IGA for FATCA that has been signed, then we will join together ‘A Mari usque ad Mare’ (“From Sea to Sea”) http://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.com/en/article/a-mari-usque-ad-mare/ . Dress warmly, it will be a cold Canadian winter on the beaches.

8. Ok what is happening in getting ready for Supreme Court case?

9. Which media outlets are picking this up live?

10. Remember whatever happens this is only the beginning not the end. I am pretty confident this will be something short of an IGA however, my previous words apply even in the case. What ever happens take a few deep breaths and lets move on to the next round.

11. Well for the next round or whatever happens today, damningly for Finance Canada, there is no evidence of any Finance Canada public or parliamentary ‘consultation’ on FATCA – even that ‘Negotiation of an Information Exchange Agreement with the United States’ November 8, 2012 notice is not on the lists of Finance Canada ‘active, recent or archived’ ‘consultations’ as far as I can see on this list: http://www.fin.gc.ca/activty/consult_-eng.asp re FATCA or any other “Information Exchange” as in the one cited in November 2012 http://www.fin.gc.ca/treaties-conventions/notices/unitedstates-etatsunis-eng.asp.

    If the Finance Ministry doesn’t itself post the ‘Negotiation of an Information Exchange Agreement with the United States’ on the list of ‘Consulting with Canadians’, then either it hasn’t consulted, or the Ministry didn’t see fit itself to consider it a ‘consultation’ ‘with Canadians’ re FATCA.

12. WORTH NOTING FOR CONTEXT:

    “US Treasury Takes Step to Avoid Hitting Debt Limit”
    WASHINGTON February 5, 2014
    Associated Press

    “The federal government says it will temporarily suspend sales of U.S. Treasury securities to state and local governments starting at noon on Friday, its first step to avoid breaching the nation’s borrowing limit this year.
    The move, announced Tuesday by Treasury officials, will be followed by other bookkeeping maneuvers to keep the government functioning until Congress decides to raise the borrowing limit.

    “The government temporarily suspended the borrowing limit last October as part of the agreement to end the government shutdown. But that halt ends this Friday. Treasury can keep the government operating for a few weeks, but Treasury Secretary Jacob Lew has warned that he has less maneuvering room than he did in last year’s battle over the debt limit…

    “Lew, in a speech Monday, urged Congress to move quickly to raise the borrowing limit, saying that his maneuvering room will most likely run out by Feb. 28. One reason for the shorter time frame this time is because it’s February, a month when the government has heavy cash needs to pay tax refunds.”

13. Here maybe?
    http://www.cbc.ca/newsblogs/politics/inside-politics-blog/2014/02/cbcca-inside-politics-liveblogstickers.html

14. Financial Post.
    “After months of negotiations, Canada has signed an inter-governmental agreement with the United States aimed at limiting the involvement of Canadian banks and their customers in a controversial U.S. crackdown on tax evaders.”
    http://business.financialpost.com/2014/02/05/canada-signs-agreement-to-dull-impact-of-u-s-crackdown-on-tax-cheats/

    Disgusting Quislings.

15. http://business.financialpost.com/2014/02/05/canada-signs-agreement-to-dull-impact-of-u-s-crackdown-on-tax-cheats/

    They signed an IGA.

16. No public pictures or anything unlike the EU countries.

    Nothing yet on the Department of Finance website.

17. If Flaherty doesn’t release some type of statement he knows this is political poison. I don’t know what good it does him though.

18. Looks like Money won… the people are left for stupid.

19. From: James Fitz-Morris
    Sent: Wednesday, February 05, 2014 11:58 AM
    To: caroltapanila
    Subject: Re: FATCA Today….????

    Yes – still trying to get it sorted out.
    there’s an exemption for RDSPs – still trying to figure out if the exemption is on the taxes – or just the automatic reporting of them.

    On Wed, Feb 5, 2014 at 1:07 PM, wrote:

    http://maplesandbox.ca/2014/urgent-finance-canada-making-fatca-briefing-today/

    Regards,
    Carol Tapanila

20. Yes, news media are tweeting me it’s signed. Bill Curry etc.

21. Reuters.
    “The Canadian officials told reporters in a briefing session that the agreement addresses serious privacy concerns they had with the original FATCA, which would have also imposed a 30 percent withholding tax on foreign businesses that do not comply with the law.

    The IGA also narrows the scope of information required to be collected from account holders in Canada, the officials said. Some smaller financial institutions will be exempt as well as certain registered savings vehicles such as Canadian registered retirement savings plans.”

    http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/02/05/us-usa-fatca-idUSBREA141U820140205

    “addresses serious privacy concerns”? Sounds like an oxymoron in the context of FATCA.

22. Agree is up on Bloomburgs

23. It’s a done deal.

    http://business.financialpost.com/2014/02/05/canada-signs-agreement-to-dull-impact-of-u-s-crackdown-on-tax-cheats/

24. The Financial Post website just pulled my and Petros comment…… figures eh?

25. Carol
    Is there any US investment in your son RDSP?
    There is only a withholding on US assets.