“Appalled, incredulous and angry’: Canadians slam law giving IRS personal info

The U.S FATCA intergovernmental agreement negotiated and signed behind closed doors by the Canadian government; legislation for implementation buried in omnibus Budget Bill C-31; hearings and debate before the House of Commons and the Canadian Senate without media coverage on any of that process to Canadians, and now omnibus Bill C-31 given Royal Assent by Canada’s Governor General and the FATCA IGA not even mentioned in the Conservative government’s press release. Still so few know. How is this possible in a country that calls itself a democracy?

So, Patrick Cain revealed to Canada the many submissions that did not get to the MPs and Senators who determined the fate of so-called *US Persons in Canada*.

One person was “appalled, incredulous and angry”; another asked Ottawa to “resist these threats to our autonomy and sovereignty with all means available.” Another argued that “with a huge cost and no benefit to Canada, this is not an agreement at all but a surrender.”

(From MapleSandbox.ca, Patrick reported) The finance department released more than 400 pages of responses under access-to-information-laws. In most cases, the writers’ names were redacted.

Enabling legislation for FATCA, which is part of the budget bill, passed third reading in the House of Commons last Wednesday and achieved royal assent on Friday.

After the deal was announced Feb. 5, the Federal Finance Department asked the public for submissions, due by March 10.

In response, they got 108 letters from private citizens and an analysis of the deal by law professors Allison Christians and Arthur Cockfield, who teach at McGill and Queen’s, respectively.

Thank you, Patrick Cain, Margaret Wente and G&M June 22, 2014 Editorial. Please keep this issue alive so *US Persons* in Canada finally will know what is in their future come Canada Day, July 1, 2014.

Your voice in *US Persons in Canada as 2nd-class citizens* and the future of Canada’s Sovereignty = support for Alliance for the Defence of Canadian Sovereignty.