As some have predicted, the IGA legislation has been buried in the Budget Implementation Act.
Little likelihood for free vote now. One source tells us that final reading of the bill in the House may happen by end of May/June.
Posted by Blaze on Sandbox:
The Cons continue their sneaky games. They have hidden the law to enable FATCA and the IGA in the 375 page omnibus Budget Implementation Act 2014.
http://www.scribd.com/doc/215070578/2014-Budget-Implementation-Bill
The enabling law begins on page 72 (Clause 99). The IGA begins on page 313.
A source tells me it is possible the FATCA legislation could pass by late May or June.
So, now we know what Finance Canada did with all of our submissions. Nothing.
http://maplesandbox.ca/2014/breaking-news-cons-hiding-fatca-law-in-budget-act/
March 29 Update on Joe Arvay Legal Opinion:
Just to let everyone know that Lynne Swanson and I contacted Joe Arvay today (Saturday, March 29) for an update.
He tells us that he is on track to provide the legal opinion on the FATCA IGA legal challenge in April — but that there is a possibility that it might take longer because not all can be predicted. Mr. Arvay wants to get this right.
I know all of us want the answer today, but please be patient.
Stephen Kish
No, Steve
waste of money. a REAL waste of money. They ain’t listening and don’t care. Do you want to pay tens of thousands of dollars on a full page ad buried in the Globe? Not me, count me out of that.
You want to write a letter to that traitor Harper?
I don’t think it’s productive to berate people for not doing enough. I’ve put $1000 dollars out so far (local ad + C3f) and I’m willing to do more but we can only do what we can with what we’ve got. CBE seems to be able to bend some ears and Native Canadian has his ham radio. Others (too many to name) are able to write great pieces. Others have the courage to do radio and TV interviews. An amazing group came together to make the C3f a success. I don’t want to burst anyone’s bubble but I don’t believe a march of the masses will ever happen — we’re too scattered across a very big country. I like the Boycott the Big Five Banks program but they have to be aware it’s happening — PR badly needed there. I’m not going to give up but it’s hard to guess if Brock will get bigger as more people become aware of the problem or smaller as more people get their CLNs and go on with their normal lives. Having sad thoughts today — kind of like I was hit by an omnibus or something.
Sad thoughts and obviously my spelling is suffering too. … will ever happen … 🙁
Yeah, I’m feeling like you, Em, thrown under the omnibus. I also feel that this has been the best opportunity for achieving critical mass, in that there will be a great many more people actually seeking out information – whether it be with the intention of renouncing or otherwise. Let’s hope that they don’t go running directly into the jaws of the compliance condors and maybe have the good fortune of stumbling across Brock on the way. I see my search for anything FATCA on google is again turning up the Squamish Chief letter. Hopefully it will for others and direct them to here.
This is quite predictable.
Apologies if this has already been noted, but this story has not escaped attention by CBC. It was on the News at 6 today, and the following is on the CBC website:
“The bill tabled Friday includes an entirely new piece of legislation — a controversial bill that requires Canadian banks to report the financial holdings of dual Canadian-U.S. citizens, with the information ultimately going to the American tax man.
“The U.S. Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act raises significant privacy concerns for as many as one million Canadians and may face a court challenge.
“That’s just one clear example of a legislative change in the budget bill that should be in stand-alone legislation for parliamentarians to properly debate, Cullen said.”
Cullen is Nathan Cullen, NDP Finance critic. It is his photo, not the Minister’s, which is at the top of the article.
See http://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/conservative-budget-bill-loaded-with-unrelated-measures-critics-say-1.2590254
@ChearsBigEars and all,
I’d like to help and put some money toward an ad, but I don’t think the ad that ran made much of an impact. The message or hook, was to narrow – you kinda already have to know whats going on to care about Liberty and Justice for US Persons. And I am not a US Person! I’m a Canadian! We need to educate Canadians. Anyway, I have an idea for another ad. Can an administrator send me an email and I’ll send it along to be posted for opinion. Thanks.
I hope we all can get the conversation going on the next steps in light of this news. I am really wanting, more than ever now, to involve ALL Canadians on this issue. It seems maybe some physical demonstrations would help as well. I just feel like screaming “we are losing our rights for money”
Cheers Big Ears. Your eloquence is remarkable.
Do you really think your foul way of expressing yourself impresses anyone?
@ Deb
Great rebuttal to Mr. Cavanagh at Squamish Chief. I loved this part:
“But in the meantime, perhaps he can understand this example of CBT – I open a bank account at BMO. But I move, and the CIBC is now a better fit for me. But BMO believes because I had an account with them, I am still obligated to pay their monthly services fees. For life. Because an account at BMO is exceptional. And because BMO says so.”
Others have pointed out the absurdity of a world where every nation uses CBT but that was just a perfect way to drill into Mr. C’s FATCA illusions. If you can do that good with an ad (and I think you can) I will put more money where my mouth is to make it happen.
From an article by Jason Fekete and Jordan Press in the Ottawa Citizen (newspaper), which is published by Post Media.
===============================================
The Conservative government’s budget bill includes measures to officially implement a controversial tax-information sharing agreement with the United States that has sparked a number of concerns it could violate Canadian privacy laws.
The agreement will see Canada begin regularly sharing large amounts of financial information with the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) in the U.S. on the estimated one million Americans and dual citizens living here. The agreement is part of an effort by the United States to crack down on offshore tax evasion.
Canadian banks and other financial institutions will be forced to report, through the Canadian government, financial information on accounts held by U.S. citizens.
However, a number of groups expressed concerns that having Canadian banks or the federal government share with the IRS the personal information of Americans living in Canada (either residents or dual citizens) could potentially violate Canadian privacy laws.
Opposition parties said Friday they would like to see the changes pulled out of the bill so they can be individually debated.
Deb…..that ad definitely worked because it was in Findlay’s riding. John Richardson endorsed that idea. Soon after the ad Findlay reacted with a statement I believe.
Also did you think I should have dropped “US Persons abroad” and put “Canadian citizens with hanging US indices” in the ad? Oh that would not be effective because most of those who have just found out about this FATCA thing think of themselves as duals even if they aren’t. The ad says STOP THE FATCA FRAUD.
Anyway, Lets see what you come up with. I’m done with this. Good luck with your ad. Tell me the price to run it too IF you can find any newspapers who will touch the subject. Many here do not realize that most papers don’t want “in your face” political controversial content and won’t accept same. many also do not know how to design a ‘ready for output’ ad nor understand the costs, deadlines, positioning and all that boring stuff that needs to be negotiated.
Yes EM, I realize that. The problem here is not your efforts or mine but lack of agreement and too many armchair critics who haven’t spent a dime yet think their opinion of the effectiveness or design of an ad is worth considering as if in an art gallery. I want to see what they come up with in their professional graphics programs. Maybe we should have a contest starting now and ending the end of July?
And Duke……no I’m not eloquent at all. Someone here has to express old fashioned anger and stop being polite to the assholes out there who are hoping we will be like all the other Canadian polite wimps and play their game the way they have indoctrinated us to do….. with politeness. I don’t like politeness, it’s phony and accomplishes nothing. Tell me when the news ever ran a story where politeness brought out the emotions that motivate people to action? That’s NOT how we defeated the LBJ and Nixon Governments and stopped the war in Vietnam. Oh pretty please Mr. LBJ please stop murdering kids in Vietnam with napalm, it’s really not the nice Canadian thing to do and it really offends us so please stop it? Pretty please?
Yeah I’m full of sarcasm. If your heart is racing after reading my rants then they are successful. The squeeky wheel gets the grease.
I thought CTV might not mention FATCA at all, and there it was, second to last paragraph:
“The U.S. Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act raises significant privacy concerns for as many as one million Canadians and may face a court challenge.”
Read more: http://www.ctvnews.ca/politics/critics-cry-foul-as-conservatives-table-another-bloated-omnibus-bill-1.1751672#ixzz2xJw1XQ6p
Sheesh Deb. I want to strike while the metal is still hot. To get into The Squamish paper for Thursday would be effective in my opinion because everyone in Squamish Whistler is talking about this. Why would people here want to delay or squash this over a measly 375.00 ? I don’t get it. Someone right away go ask John Richardson his opinion fast as time is running out. I’m not paying for this idea just by myself you know.
Does it even count to write to Nathan Cullen? ‘Cause I just did that. Who else should I be writing to? I mean, besides everybody? 🙂
I eloquently submit that we should support certain Canadian industries that cannot be attacked by the Canadian Government without it being immediately overthrown . Our former “Canadian” banks are in the hands of the enemy but here is something they cannot get
http://deutsche-wirtschafts-nachrichten.de/wp-content/uploads/2014/03/gold.jpg
Buy in April-May, seasonal weakness.
@ChearsBigEars, I would help finance adverts. But I can NOT call up and give a credit card. I can send money to someone to do something with it. Blaze @ maplesandbox has my email.
I am not Canadian, not in Canada but recognize you guys are at the front line.
I can drop payment in the post on Monday, someone would have by the weekend.
God bless…
how about a bunch of us go to the US consulate and burn an american flag in protest of FATCA. It would get on the news. If you don’t like burning the flag, how about burning a paper copy of the FATCA law.
As far as I know it’s (still) legal to do this in Canada so why not
BURN BABY BURN
cindy73. As a Canadian-born patriot, I like that Idea. And also bring a Canadian flag, mounted on a flagpole (upside down with a placard: In Memoriam, Canada’s Sovereignty.
The more I think about it, the more I realize that the enabling legislation for Canada to cooperate with FATCA has an Achilles heel in its requirement that some Canadian citizens and permanent residents must provide a U.S. taxpayer identification number. How will the Canadian government or Canadian financial institutions be able to determine which persons living in Canada have U.S. TINs? Is mere suspicion enough? And what if the suspicion is false? Can a Canadian citizen who does not have a U.S. TIN, but is suspected of having one, be penalized for not providing one? How can a person prove s/he does not have a U.S. TIN, since even a native-born Canadian citizen could have a U.S. Green Card?
Or will they go after anyone with a IMM1000? Those without Canadian Citizenships and are in the process of getting Canadian citizenship will still be under the gun. If the question says “Are you resident in Canada”. Well…my wife is a “permanent resident” so she is RESIDENT in Canada…so as far as I’m concerned the answer to that question is YES. End of discussion. She doesn’t have to indicate her citizenship and I’d step in at that point and say, would you like to take it up with a Canadian Citizen?
@The_Animal
Yup, the press loves nothing more than a good ol’ flag-burning. it would make news even south of the border. much more impact than newspaper ads.
The Canadian CRA/IRS will weed out those who files taxes in Canada with a US birthplace. they will likely then contact you and threaten the 100.00 fine for not having a US TIN. The US government has found a way to use the Canadian government to go against it’s own citizens. Lets be very clear on how the USA has done this. Simply with a THREAT. I do agree, a US flag with Obama’s face in the middle and the word FATCA under it should be burned in public. The USA’s arrogance needs to be stopped. Russia is strong enough to tell them to get lost… apparently, we are not. Strategic ads in local newspapers will work if done correctly. We need to start the outrage on this right now. Too many lives are being destroyed and it is only going to get worse if we do not get justice for the victims….
So far I’ve been doing taxes for 2014 and haven’t seen any part where it asks for my wife’s birth only whether she is a Canadian citizen or not. If I put “no” on the form. She could be from any of the 49 European countries. As far as I’m concerned – CRA – have fun playing “What country is she from?” because I ain’t saying a single word. Acronym to them is KMA.
The Canadian income taxes will catch “permanent residents” likely. I would hope citizens would be ok….
Unfortunately this was totally expected from these cowards. What to do? I’m in for whatever you all decide. Would contacting John R. or Christans or E May help us come up with a plan? I so hope more will flock here as the news spreads. We need to be able to focus energies if a critical mass starts to form but how? I want all Canadians outraged not just we tainted ones, I am so furclempt. We need to be smart but I can’t seem to find smart to quell my rage.