Thank you, Elizabeth May, for referring to us as what we are: Canadians! We appreciate that very much.
… and her email to me today:
Dear Ms. Tapanila,
Thank you for your message regarding the US Foreign Account Tax Compliancy Act (FATCA) and what it means for Canadians. I share your concerns on this urgent matter, and I will continue to work to ensure that Canadians do not suffer financial penalties as a result of this legislation.
As you are likely aware, on February 5 Finance Minister Jim Flaherty announced that an inter-governmental agreement with US officials to implement FATCA had been reached. Although Minister Flaherty claimed to have negotiated hard-won concessions from the US, the reality is that this agreement remains largely unchanged from when it was first announced.
Under FATCA, Canadian banks will soon be required to search their account records for the personal information of US citizens, their children, and all those who through some accident of family or work history acquired some characteristic of interest to the IRS, and report the findings to the Canada Revenue Agency, who will then provide the information to US officials.
This legislation is slated to come into effect globally on July 1, 2014, and thus it is imperative that Canadians with US citizenship or legal status take steps to educate themselves about what these changes mean for them.
More detailed information about the agreement is available in a recent column I wrote for a BC newspaper:
http://elizabethmaymp.ca/news/publications/island-tides/2014/03/20/whats-up-with-fatca-an-issue-that-should-concern-more-than-those-canadians-with-ties-to-the-us/
It is also important to bear in mind that although it may seem that FATCA is a done deal, it is possible that the agreement would not survive a constitutional challenge.
Peter Hogg, former Dean of Osgoode Hall Law School and one of Canada’s foremost constitutional experts, has rightly pointed out that in addition to being a significant privacy concern, FATCA would likely be a violation of Section 15 of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms, which forbids discrimination based on “national or ethnic origin.”
I will do everything I can to ensure that Canadians remain up to date on any and all future developments in terms of legal challenges to FATCA. In the meantime, I urge you to write to your Member of Parliament, write letters to the editor of your local newspaper, talk to your friends and neighbours, and continue to stay informed about this alarming change to our country’s financial landscape.
Thank you again for taking the time to write to me, and for your engagement with this critically important issue.
Respectfully,
Elizabeth May, O.C., M.P.
Member of Parliament for Saanich-Gulf Islands
Leader of the Green Party of Canada
Looks like we finally found a politician in Canada with some balls. Very interesting that it’s a woman!
I also received the identical letter from Elizabeth May, a few minutes ago. In my case, it was a reply to an email I had sent to her and the other party leaders on January 17 concerning the Master Nationality Rule and FATCA’s violation of this principle of international law.
Elizabeth May and the Greens have been very forthright on this issue, but they’re a small party with limited resources, and obviously she and they are playing catch-up on their email on FATCA. Which however is more than I can say of Tom Mulcair, Murray Rankin, and my own NDP MP Paul Dewar, none of whom have as yet even acknowledged receipt of the same email (which they all got as did May on the same day) nor on any of my subsequent emails on various aspects of FATCA.
So, in my experience, the Greens have a better track record of replying to my concerns about FATCA than does the NDP, even though I’m not May’s constituent and haven’t joined her party (though I did donate to them last year, as I did to the NDP of which I have been a member both federally and provincially).
I am drawing the obvious conclusions about which party is best responding to my concerns and is most deserving of my future financial support. The next time I get a fund-raising call from the NDP, I will rub their noses in this, reminding them they own neither my vote nor my bank account, and they have to EARN my (and every other voter’s) support. Just asking for money and treating us as financial milk-cows isn’t good enough, not in any democracy. I guess that’s something their Obamacrat campaign advisors they’ve hired from south of the border still haven’t learned.
I also just received the same email from Ms. May. It’s the only one I’ve received so far from any of the party leaders. Even my own member of parliament has not responded.
Certainly makes a person think when deciding how to vote.
… and by the way, I’ve been copying or addressing all of my FATCA and IGA emails for months now to Justin Trudeau. Not a peep in reply from him or his party.
The Greens and May have a legitimate excuse for being a bit tardy in getting back to me: they have two MPs and limited staff and funds. Neither the NDP nor the Liberals have that excuse.
I just wish the Greens had a better-than-snowball’s-chance-in-Tahiti of getting elected in my riding. I don’t want to waste my vote in the next election, and I want the Tories OUT and DEAD with a silver stake driven through what passes for their heart. So I may hold my nose and vote Liberal or NDP, depending on how the political landscape shapes up during the election campaign, but the Greens get my money, if not my vote — at least this next election (unless they can find a credible star candidate to run against Dewar and who can attract enough votes to win and/or not split the sanity vote enough for the Tories to slither up the middle to win).
I wished this would wake up the Greens in NZ. I have sent it their way.
More than any other Canadian federal politician Elisabeth May gets it….most likely because she has the same US person dog crap stuck to her shoe as the rest of us! Good idea about the donations, Schubert. Send the Greens some money no matter who you vote for in the end. Maybe a bigger budget will allow them to make more noise on this issue.
No other party communicates better than Ms. May’s Green Party. With the pitifully small resources they have they do an amazing job. I got the same letter this morning too.
I also received one. Although past beyond grateful that she is on this I am a bit dismayed with some things missing in her writings. I appreciate that the entire scope of the fallout would take endless pages but I would have been delighted to see more emphasis placed on the bankrupting penalties and the assets removed from the Canadian economy….that hurts everyone. She is asking other Canadians be empathetic to our situation, groovy, but they might not be so empathetic until it hits their own pocket-book. (I’ve heard lots of Yankee go home..um don’t think that was so empathetic). Yes, I am looking for a perfect world and alway find something to belly ache about. At least she is a voice, understands and has the courage to take a stand. She will be getting a few bucks from me also.
Guess who has my vote. I am going to advise my friends to vote Green.
What she writes about legal possibilities is interesting. She notes that various law professors of good standing think that FATCA will violate the Charter. Thats important! Maybe you guys should get in touch with them and see if they can’t help with the case.
Polly,
See sidebar for details on the Canadian Charter Challenge.
@Charl
Far be it from me to be an apologist for the IRS, but in fairness, the only expats that I believe experienced penalties were those that went into OVDP before Streamlined was available. So, although not guaranteed to relieve one of penalties, Streamlined filing would be the response from the powers-that-be re the accusation of massive penalties on expats.
The Greens have my vote… to vote strategically just to get rid of the current government is generally a mistake, in my opinion. It drives the party that is the automatic beneficiary of your intentions closer to the party in power – they will naturally head in that direction in an attempt to garner votes that, unlike yours, can’t be taken for granted. I think that’s one of the main reasons the Liberals have become virtually indistinguishable from the Tories.
I got the same letter. And I’m a Yank. What’s this, Canadian imperialism?? {{:-{)}}}}
I say: “Yay for May!”
LOL, Jim Jatras. Thanks for your latest too, so much encouraging: http://repealfatca.com/index.asp?idmenu=4&idsubmenu=150&title=repealfatcacom-roundup-news-and-commentary-on-the-approaching-fatca-train-wreck. If no one has, I’ll put a post up here.
What about all of us taking up another challenge to raise some income to publish some of these letters in our local newspapers? I make a better Electrician than a writer, but am fully willing to donate to this and will help any way I can……
@NativeCanadian, You have a great idea!
@NativeCanadian
Sounds like a plan to me.
“Elizabeth May and the Greens have been very forthright on this issue, but they’re a small party with limited resources”
and where are the big fat cat US persons affected by this and where are their donations?
A friend of mine suggested we start a “Wall of Fame” and a “Wall of Shame”
@ChearsBigEars, The big fat cat US persons are long gone, if they have few morals, but I suspect that some of them are waiting in the wings to pounce. And we do not need a lot of them. 🙂 We are going to win this. The writing is on the wall. Keep fighting.
OMG. this is getting embarrassing.
@Whoever, thanks for the corrections.
I got one, too! And, like others, nary a peep from the other parties, not even my MP (although I live in the AB sticks so of course he’s much too busy being an apologist for oil & gas to be concerned about my little problem). I love Liz and if I can do anything to support her party here I definitely will.
Elizabeth is also quite responsive on Twitter, as some may have noticed.
Lecture at McGill University
Elizabeth May, Member of Parliament for Saanich-Gulf Islands and Leader of the Green Party of Canada, will be giving the 2014 Mallory Lecture at McGill University on Monday, March 24.
The Mallory Lecture is an annual event hosted by the McGill Institute for the Study of Canada (MISC), in honour of the late McGill History Professor J.R. Mallory. Past Mallory speakers include Noah Richler, John Gomery, and Bob Rae.
May’s lecture, entitled The Crisis in Canadian Democracy, will address the decline in youth participation in Canada’s democratic process, and what can be done to prevent a slide into “elected dictatorships.”
“I am truly honoured to have the opportunity to address the McGill community and to be part of this venerable academic tradition,” said May. “The Mallory Lecture series is an important example of the important role that universities must play in fostering debate and engagement with democracy.”
The 2014 Mallory Lecture will take place Monday, March 24 at 5:00 P.M. EDT, at the McGill Faculty Club. The event is free and open to the public, and can also be viewed online:
http://bcooltv.mcgill.ca/Viewer1/?EventID=201403219377