Liberty and justice for all United States persons abroad

The Isaac Brock Society

Posted on by Posted in Issues regarding US persons abroad 13 Comments

Here is a correspondance between “the knower” and me in the comment section of the Financial Post article, Canadian government faces constitutional challenge over FATCA deal. Perhaps “the knower” just needs to hear more about what’s really going on. I think that’s true of most Canadians. Once they understand what’s going on and that we are not making this stuff up, they’ll be on our side.

the knower
It’s a bit ironic that these American-born Canadians still retain the American love affair with lawsuits.

  • Avatar
    Peter W. Dunn

    Of the many constitutional lawsuits made against the Tory government, this is the first dealing with the issue of US nationality. If the executive branch of the government does not respect the Charter of Rights and Freedoms, what other option do citizens have but to take it to the courts? And finally, just because a person is born in America, doesn’t make them any less Canadian than native-born Canadians. It is thinking to the contrary that has led to the need for Section 15 of the Charter of Rights and Freedoms. There are no American Canadians or Chinese Canadians or Arab Canadians or Jewish Canadians or Eritrean Canadians under the Charter. There are only Canadians, all who have the right to protection. If Canadians of alleged US nationality were the only ones suing the Canadian government, your taunt might have some merit, but since the Harper government is constantly facing constitutional challenges, I don’t see a point at all in what you suggest as “ironic”.

    the knower 

    • Not so much a taunt, but a reference to the fact that Americans remain the most litigious country on the planet…thanks for the rant, although I stopped reading when you began the Charter babble and skimmed down to where you needed an explanation for the word ‘ironic’.

      • Peter W. Dunn 

        Ok, I’m just letting you know that you are being offensive. I will defend these two ladies as Canadian with my life and you make a joke about their being American. They are Canadian, 100%.

        • the knower 

          Relax, Peter. Your life is not in jeopardy on this issue although your penchant for hyperbole indicates some sort of malfunction in your medication. I know they are Canadian. You do not understand irony. Perhaps your last name should finish with double m rather than double n.

          • Peter W. Dunn

            How do you know if my life is in jeopardy or not? Do you work for the IRS or the CIA? Google, FATCA critic fears arrest by US authorities.

            Did you know that the IRS has threatened me with fines totaling 300% of my financial wealth and with felony charges and imprisonment? The US government has resorted to terror tactics. Don’t tell people that their life is not in danger when they now have their Canadian government agreeing to handover their financial information to the IRS so that they too can receive threats of 300% FBAR fines and imprisonment. My life is my time. I had to spend my time to earn what I have. If you threaten my finances in this manner you threaten my past. If you threaten above 100% fines, you threaten also my future. Slavery is a form of stealing someone’s future.

            You may think it is cute to refer to the irony of “Americans” launching a lawsuit, but it is just simply bigotry. We are launching this lawsuit because we have no other way to get the Canadian government to recognize that we are Canadians who deserve the protection of the Canadian government, not the extraordinary rendition of our financial information to a foreign and hostile government.

            the knower 

            • Well, I certainly am sorry to hear of your predicament. I had no idea that you were personally involved in such a process. Good luck with dealing with this, but don’t overreact to said situation.

13 thoughts on “Ginny and Gwen are Canadians: It’s not funny to make American jokes about them”

  2. I find when people resort to ad hominem attacks it is usually because they do not understand something fully or struggle with forming logical persuasive arguments. You stood your ground without resorting to name calling and clearly won your point. Well done…

  4. It’s good to see that the majority of the readers here who took the poll:

    http://www.thestar.com/business/2014/08/13/canadians_born_in_us_sue_ottawa_over_tax_fraud_law.html

    think that what Ottawa’s doing is an infringement of Gwen and Ginny’s rights as Canadians. Unfortunately the “just renouncers” beat out the those who think it makes them second class citizens but that might be because they are unaware of the difficulties in renouncing US citizenship. I guess because you can only make one choice in the poll, you are either in the “infringement” camp or the smaller “just renounce” camp, because the second class citizen camp is really just an extension of the infringement camp, IMO.

  5. “Don’t overreact to said situation” spake “the knower”??? How the hell does he think he’d react if HE (or SHE) were in the said situation or one comparable to it?

    The real problem with bloggers like “the knower” is their inability to listen to another viewpoint and then to visualize themselves walking in the other person’s moccasins for even a couple of blocks never mind a mile.

    I don’t have the patience to “engage” people like this in any conversation. I’m glad others do and can retain their politeness, but it isn’t me to do that … Maybe I should visualize myself in “the knower”‘s moccasins, but frankly IMHO it isn’t worth the time or bother.

    Also ad hominem snarky remarks about medications reveals a troll-like attitude that one sees far too often on websites and almost never sees or witnesses in face-to-face conversations (because remarks like that can often lead to physical violence rather quickly, and most people have some awareness of that but they forget it when posting anonymously on a web blog).

    Thankfully even on The Star Business Page 80% of people who replied to that survey sympathize with Gwen and Gwinny. This “knower” is in a minority to start with. I’ll keep to myself my speculations as to his federal political affiliation …

  7. Yes it’s good to know that the ‘just renouncers’ are in the minority even with little knowledge and understanding of the difficulties of renouncing US citizenship.

  10. If the US Government moves the FATCA goal posts to say accessing a Canadian bank online with a US IP address and ‘The Knower’ decides to go to Florida, checks his bank details from the US, and finds out that his banking details have been sent to the IRS, he’d feel difference.

    @The Knower – Nobody is FATCA proof. The US Government can change the rules at will, An yes the above situation is perfectly possible if the US Government decides so.

    That’s why as an ‘unaffected’ Canadian in 2014 should be concerned about FATCA in future.

    Also if your banking details get sent in error to the IRS today, you have zero re-course. Data only goes on a one way journey. There’s another reason for today to be concerned about FATCA.

  11. I just read the entire comments on this article. Wow! Good for you guys for all the sensible comments.. I don’t have patience for people who don’t seem to read the story. Or the other comments. I think some just like to stick to a idea they have and repeat it. I have my thoughts on the Q girl…. She sounds like a temporary resident in Canada and going back home … or is in the tax compliance industry.

    I voted on the poll too. It was heartening to see over 1600 voted it is against the constitution.

  12. I think some posters work for the IRS and are persistent and comment over hours.

    I believe that the nay sayers are being overwhelmed. And I do see a bit of anti Conservative government sentiment in the posts.

  13. The Knower wrote, “Well, I certainly am sorry to hear of your predicament. I had no idea that you were personally involved in such a process. Good luck with dealing with this, but don’t overreact to said situation.”

    How does one over react to this situation?

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