Well, I hope that our technical problems have finally come to an end. Problems Wednesday were about changing our domain registration to a new ISP (internet service provider), which required time for “prorogation”. I myself didn’t have access until Thursday morning. Then the normal Brock traffic simply overwhelmed our shared server service which was promoted by the ISP but turned out to be thoroughly inadequate for our needs. That’s when we started getting the account suspended message–and no, that wasn’t because you put some bad language in a comment. So we had to change to a new platform which is more robust and will hopefully carry us into the next year.
For those naysayers of Isaac Brock–and boy do we ever have them, I have a message. Take for example Kim Moody, who wrote:
In today’s day and age, anyone with a microphone and access to the Internet can provide their opinion, and while free and open democracies need freedom of speech in order to function, sometimes the loudest opinions are inaccurate, incomplete and, in the FATCA world, inflammatory.
Who could she mean but the Isaac Brock Society? Have we not used our free speech to say that people like Kim Moody have no business in Canada collecting taxes in our sovereign nation on behalf of the serial rights abuser called the United States of America? Is she not paid handsomely to enforce IRS compliance on innocent Canadian citizens? So isn’t that act itself inaccurate, incomplete, and inflammatory.
I have this to say to the Kim Moodys and to the Honourable Prime Minister Stephen Harper and his merry band of thugs: “If you strike me down, I shall become more powerful than you could possibly imagine.” Our new platform is now sufficiently powerful to handle the traffic that you folks are going to force our way.
In the meantime, I had a number of messages from loyal Brockers. One said, “I am going through IBS withdrawal. It is worse than being an alcoholic.” Another claimed to be happy it was down because reading posts here destroys optimism. Another, who works in a psychiatric hospital, said that their emergency room was quite overwhelmed with Brockers who were beside themselves. I am so relieved that we can provide once again the only treatment that seems to work against the disease of clinging US nationality. Welcome home.
@Em
i have to confess that I find it hard to believe that any group that would use “Progressive” in their name would be opposed to FATCA! Everything seems like it is upside down! I just had shoulder surgery, am housebound and can only use my left hand. i am afraid that I will lose what little sanity I had left now that I can’t get a break from all this FATCA stuff.
@ Canadian Cop
Oh my, sorry about the surgery. You are doing well at the keyboard though. Yes, the Progressive Canadian Party really does oppose FATCA. I voted for their candidate in the last election (one of a miniscule minority to do so). I liked their platform and I didn’t even know FATCA existed at that time. So even though I backed the last horse to get to the post it felt like I had a winner of sorts when I watched the Toronto Forum. Get strong and well and try to stay sane despite all this. We need your words of wisdom to keep flowing.
Obviously I’m not doing too well at the keyboard today — it’s Progressive Canadian Party. They very much want to be PC not CP.
Neill, not targeting snowbirds would be smart but who said they were? They are going for the fast cash. I think they will nab as much as fast as they can.
And I have been aware for a while that the LIbs are very interested in CBT in terms of not just corps but the so-called rich as well. It is the same short-sighted thinking that the USG employs but not a surprise b/c Trudeau is taking econ lessons from Freeland, who is about as American-centric in terms of finance as they come.
I have no illusions about govt or parties. They all pretty much suck. The trick is to use them the same way they use us, which means being loyal only to those who are willing to pander to our interests. In terms of duals and PRs, the major interest is FATCA and US CBT running over our rights as citizens and residents in Canada. The Cons screwed up. The only way they will understand how badly is being handed their hats.
I belong to a party but I continue to question the wisdom of not simply being a mercenary voter with my loyalty never for sale but my vote up for the highest bidder. I am beginning to think that this might be the only solution/salvation the average person has left to them.
Yes, Canadian Cop, more fear instilled into us by the US Treasury and the IRS as we try to protect our Canadian-earned and taxed savings and shield our family members.
FEAR rules and now that use of fear as a tool is being copied by our Conservative government as they, too, are willing to paint Canadians with a US taint as tax evaders, ready to turn fellow Canadians over to a foreign country.
Will the Canadian public as a whole be swayed by the PR of the Conservative plan, especially since the media has not seen fit (and do we know why that is?) to give any coverage to what went on in the Finance Committee on May 29th, 2014?
I went to a Calgary meeting with a fine group of persons laying plans for this country’s 150th Birthday Celebrations in 2017. We gave our wishes for Canada. Mine was that Canada remains a sovereign country. From the brainstorming taking place, it seemed to me that SOVEREIGNTY would have been the word to describe what everyone was trying to bring into the celebration. If any Brockers or Sandboxers have an opportunity to help plan in their communities for Canada’s 150th Birthday, it will present a good opportunity for you to discuss the importance of a Sovereign Canada.
The planning in Calgary is called IMAGINation150. The next Calgary “Vital Conversation” in the countdown to Canada’s 150th will have the theme of “VALUES”.
IMAGINation150 – Planning for Canada’s 150th Birthday (2017)
(Wishing you a safe recovery from your shoulder surgery!)
Since we are looking for ways to alert the average Canadian, I discovered that Bill C-31, which has FATCA embedded in it also has this too:
C-31 — includes measures that will allow the Canada Revenue Agency to pass normally carefully protected tax information to police.
That certainly touches all Canadians and not just USC tainted ones.
@Yogagirl
Sometimes I wonder if there is some form of global collusion going on between these governments. New Zealand is also in the process of passing legislation allowing the tax authorities to hand over information to the Police.
osgood, I think we are not so sovereign as we would like to believe but it pays for us to remember that our ruling class is a like a small club that mingles and shares and is more interested in their good than ours. But I am having a cynical day. Ask me again tomorrow.
I am very glad to see this website back up and running smoothly. Thank you Petros for all the hard work and effort you put into this site and thanks too to the others who keep it running and contribute to it.
I don’t even know what to say about the events that will take place on Canada Day this year, as usual with almost no one having any idea what just took place. This country is no longer what it was or what it might have been because of that document that was signed.
I read over the weekend that in the next fifteen years, twenty states are going to be dry as a bone and out of water. Where do you think they will come for help? Do you think they will have to ask after FATCA was signed with all the leeway they have now? FATCA can be expanded upon, and used as political positioning with sanctions at any time for other purposes. That was the point! Hello Harper! Don’t you get it?
@mettleman, if I had a 1967 Chrysler and could drive around in fine weather listening to Gerry Garcia…I’d feel a lot better!! *begs invite!* hahahaha!!
Don’t get too discouraged everyone. Despite how difficult this battle is we are on the side of what is right. History will show that and those who are bending over to sell out to this debacle will be shown to their ever lasting shame to have been liars. A Charter Challenge on the books is what is called for now. They have left people no other recourse. That and I am voting NDP from now on and my spouse is voting Green. I’ve had a lot of fun with all the phone calls I’ve been getting lately from various parties telling them exactly who I’m voting for and why I am.
House of Commons Finance Committee Meeting No. 35, May 14, 2014, M. Chantal Bernier, Interim Privacy Commissioner, discusses both FATCA and FINTRAC / CRA in her opening statement at 12:50 http://parlvu.parl.gc.ca/PARLVU/TimeBandit/PowerBrowser_SilverLight.aspx?ContentEntityId=11809&EssenceFormatID=847&date=20140514&lang=en
Murray Rankin asks M. Bernier about Privacy Act prevailing over the IGA at about 20:10 – and also CRA passing information to Canadian police without warrant.
CBC, May 22, 2014: Five bills to watch before Parliament breaks for summer, including Bill C-31
If this is true and you need to get a SSN in order to relinquish/renounce then I’d say it’s about to get a lot harder to get that done. Some of our kids and some of us are going to be waiting even longer to get our lives back to normal if this happens. As it is there are offices you must visit to get that number. This is inconvient enough but, if you have to go over the phone with an 800 number that probably won’t work outside of the country it’s going to be a huge mess! Do any of these agencies even speak to each other? With FATCA coming down on accidental Americans this is a stupid move! Sorry didn’t know where else to “share” this news.
“Social Security Threatens To Close All Field Offices”
http://www.truth-out.org/news/item/24045-social-security-threatens-to-close-all-field-offices
A social security number is NOT required to renounce US nationality.
@YogaGirl,
One thing to think about for getting Canadians to know about this might be the new mom magazines. If you could get an article written alerting people to the downside of having a child born in the US you would get a lot of people. I expect placing an advert in them would be very expensive but I guess if you got enough people to share the cost? Maybe not as effective as an article.
If hospitals lost business because of this then people would care. If pregnant women avoided the US because of the fear then that might be a big problem. No idea what the numbers are on this.
Maybe there are snowbird magazines?
@Atticus, thanks for posting this:
““Social Security Threatens To Close All Field Offices””
In the past I tried to help a senior access the SS they were entitled to, and we already could not get calls from Canada returned to our messages left with their offices, nor was there an 800 no. that would work from Canada, nor was mail answered. The only way to sort things out was to drive over the border into the nearest SS office in the US, and to meet with a staffperson face to face. Even that wasn’t always foolproof, but the alternatives didn’t work at all. And no internet page was going to be able to do the problem solving required when things went wrong.
Between my experiences from ‘abroad’ with the IRS, and SS, and now, with the US consulate and State Department, and the Congressperson, (forget the President), who supposedly served and ‘represented’ me in the past, it is even more farcical for FATCA/CBT fanatics to claim that the US is providing benefits or even just ‘service’ to those living abroad. They can’t even serve USPs living along the border in Canada – much less those who aren’t native English speakers all around the globe. And of course, despite the IRS/Treasury jihad and FBAR fundraiser against all those abroad – they can’t even be bothered to assist with CBT compliance matters – witness the notice on the Embassy site (now several years old; under ‘TAXPAYER ASSISTANCE’ it says “The information on this page is intended especially for taxpayers residing in Canada. Note: Owing to budget cutbacks, the Internal Revenue Service will not be providing any in-person assistance or tax seminars at the U.S. Embassy and certain of the Consulates General in Canada.”
There is no-one to hold them to account. So if they cut the services to those inside the US, what hope do those abroad have of any assistance whatsoever? Witness the IRS cuts for services to seniors and low income taxpayers “….seniors and lower-income households need to look elsewhere if they once went to IRS walk-in locations for assistance in preparing their returns….”……..”….This year, the IRS is cutting out its special service for assisting seniors and lower-income taxpayers with preparing their returns at IRS walk-in Taxpayer Assistance Centers. In 2012, the IRS assisted 6.8 million taxpayers at 397 Taxpayer Assistance sites……..” http://seattletimes.com/html/businesstechnology/2022933272_pftaxirshelpxml.html
They already have stats that tell them that even within the US, a significant portion of the population does not have a computer or internet access. And how could it be expected that all citizens must put their private data further at risk by using public computers at libraries, or internet cafes.
It amazes me that there is anyone left in Canada that is not aware of how this country is being politically manipulated by US power brokers and their fools. There is a very good reason why only 25 percent of the population came out to vote for Harper. The majority no longer wants to participate in this ridiculous flawed political system that is being run by career politicians that waste our money and argue like children. Mandating compulsory voting has been proposed as the solution to voter malaise, but this does nothing to address the root cause, voter indifference.
What is required to stimulate participation in a real democratic system is nothing less than the abolition of this corrupt archaic parliamentary system with its crony appointed senate. Ok, this does sound radical, but for how much longer can the status quo be tolerated.
Canada’s people deserve nothing less than establishment of a new kind of governance system. One that gathers our most brilliant minds in science, economics, and social development to determine the best ways of utilizing the wealth of our human potentials. We live in a great country with no lack of natural resources. A consensus must be formed to achieve a functional, healthy, just, and sustainable society. The IB site is evidence that intelligent, caring, and energetic people can accomplish much to affect change.
@AtticusinCanada, you make a good point about the water but the US hasn’t needed to ask Canada (or Mexico) for much of anything since NAFTA, which was one in a series of sovereignty give aways. But if you want to stroll farther down the “conspiracy theory” path, look at the American jihad against the oilsands. Desmond Tutu was here today railing about what a “dirty” business it is. Though it is no more dirty than the fracking in Texas, Pennsylvania and North Dakota like them – oils sands exploitation uses up a lot of fresh water, so you tell me why the US really doesn’t want Alberta to develop the oil sands.
@Neill, I belong to an expat group where new moms regularly declare they are going to register their kids even after many of us clue them in. I doubt that the average border Canadian (unless they are intimately acquainted with the pitfalls already) will listen to warnings about gifting their kids with USC.
@KaPow, you should read Alison Loat’s book or watch some of her YouTube stuff. Our MPs have been slowly stripped of power since Trudeau Sr. and all the power rests with party leaders, the PM and the unelected horde that buffers them from the rank and file. MPs have no real power anymore that’s why the Con backbencher introduced the private member’s bill to give MPs the power to dump their leaders (among other things). They have been neutered and exist only to vote the wishes of their leaders and the party.
@YogaGirl
Some parts of the US have lots of water. The Quabbin Reservoir in New England(the largest man made reservoir in the Western Hemisphere) is overflowing with water. In fact there have already been discussions about making large shipments of water from the Quabbin to other parts of the US which have drought conditions albeit for a very step price payable to the reservoir operators.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quabbin_Reservoir
Conceivably if necessary the US could “flood” and dismantle additional communities as was done during the original construction of the Quabbin in the 1930s. I have actually been out on the surface of the Quabbin once as a child and it is an “eiry” experience.
As you can imagine from the video below building another “Quabbin” would be quite a political challenge.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ObxULfwK_DM
Just so you don’t think the building of the Quabbin was a symbol of American heartlessness a similar flooding and community dismantling process went on in parts of Ontario and New York during the construction of the St Lawrence Seaway.
Tim, they talk about tapping the Great Lakes too. But the west and southwest are very, very dry and the strain by existing population and agriculture isn’t going to be cured by water trucks from the East.
Did you know they are currently building a tunnel under Lake Powell to deal with day when the Hoover dam can’t access the water because it will be too low to for the dam to access? No water and no hydro-electric. And the Ogallala Aquifer that the Dakotans are up in arms about isn’t as full as they would lead us to believe and is probably more at risk from groundwater run off from farmland than any danger Keystone would put it in. Not to mention the trouble in Florida with the Everglades.
There is a tremendous amount of freshwater waste in North America period and it would be sad if the US is counting on Canada for freshwater because our Western mountain ranges are becoming as winter dry as their Sierras.
Water is not the only reason the US would want development in Alberta (and elsewhere in Canada) slowed to a trickle. Protesting us makes them look good on the whole CO2 and climate change issues. It keeps Canada tightly tied to the US economy. It’s a back up for when the fracking boom goes bust (and it will).
@ YogaGirl
My view is that the U.S. will continue to stall Keystone until they have enough oil themselves to meet U.S. needs plus export to new markets such as China. In the meantime Canada will be left behind with no one buying or wanting our oil. Until that happens the U.S. seems to be just fine with buying oil from terrorist countries who commit horrific atrocities against others. The US doesn’t want Alberta to develop the oil sands because they will soon shut Canada completely out of the world oil market and focus instead on developing their own oil – eg, in the newly developed Balkans. And Canada seems helpless to pursue other markets – ie, China – due to the countless roadblocks thrown up by a multitude of Canadian political groups, each with their own agenda.
Canadian Cop. Here ya go.
https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-KxH8EUOrYOk/U4qTCXGbVTI/AAAAAAAAB5Q/HnTGUMzz_p8/w500-h300-no/Canada_Tombstone.jpg
@Yoga Girl
One problem is the population in the US keeps on moving to parts of the country with no water like the South and West. The same thing is happening in Canada to a lesser extent vis a vis population shift to Alberta and Western Canada. As pointed out the Canadian Rockies do not have as much snowcap as commonly believed.
@Sasha
Their are some parts of the US VERY dependent on Canadian oil. In the six New England states most of the gasoline, diesel, and jet fuel comes from the Irving refinery in New Brunswick(Irving has its own tanker fleet that runs between Saint John and Boston). New England is also a significant buyer on Quebec hydropower. From following the industry I see very little change in this trade pattern anytime soon short of the US building a huge pipeline from Texas to Boston which is very unlikely.
The issue is much of the Canadian oil industry and the Conservative Party wanted nothing to do with Irving, Atlantic Canada, or New England until quite recently when all of their other options started to look bad. Now they would argue that historically the population of New England and Atlantic Canada has been shrinking so why would they want to tie Canada’s fortune to a shrinking market(albeit one were Canadian producers already have something close to a monopoly and where the US/New England have not really paid that much attention to how the product is sourced).
KaPow, there’s plenty that don’t care and could care less about Canadian sovereignty. Most don’t care and think that “it won’t affect them”. Most of them don’t care because they’re not as personally invested in Canada staying free and most are US apologists “but they’re our friends”. Bull-hockey pucks. But count THIS Canadian awake and aware and trumpeting the wake-up call.
So much so, that I’m sure HL Security has placed him on the no-fly list. Well…that’s all right. I got a car and I don’t mind driving. I don’t intend to ever go down to the United States; that place is about as welcoming as Mordor is to me. And there’s plenty of other countries that I can go to visit and I haven’t visited every place in Canada yet.
@The_Animal
Great job. Sadly, it appears that is where we are heading.
@ The_Animal
I like the tombstone. I hope Canadian Cop catches that. No more over the border to Mordor for me either. Actually it’s been almost 20 years since I’ve been there, another 20 (if I’ve got that many) won’t bother me. What scares me is that Canada is being absorbed by the USA, concession by concession by concession, and nobody seems to notice, nobody seems to care, nobody is standing on guard. Canadians are just mindlessly mouthing the words to our national anthem.