UPDATE SEPTEMBER 19, 2015: SEE ALSO DISCLAIMER AND LITIGATION UPDATES.
[This post, which began in May and having over 1000 revisions and 2000 comments, is being retired from service and updates. It lived through the success of reaching a total of $500,000 in donations from our kind, dear supporters who had little money to give, the hope and disappointment with the summary trial decision, and the certainty that we are now finally moving on to the Charter trial.]
CANADIAN CHARTER TRIAL UPDATE:
— We have instructed the Arvay team to prepare for the “Constitutional-Charter” trial. This means that our focus now, as it was in the beginning of our lawsuit, is on the Charter trial.
Unless there is a new expense in the future that we have not anticipated, the monies from your donations will be sufficient to take us through the “constitutional-charter” trial in Federal Court. However, to pay other legal bills we will need additional donations from our supporters, and a request for donations will appear on another post soon.
OUR LITIGATION HISTORY:
One year ago, on August 11, 2014, Litigator Joseph Arvay filed a FATCA IGA lawsuit in Canada Federal Court on behalf of Plaintiffs Ginny and Gwen, the Alliance for the Defence of Canadian Sovereignty (en français), and all peoples.
Because of a Government delay we initiated a “summary trial”, using a portion of the arguments, which offered the possibility of preventing private banking information from being turned over to the IRS before September 30, 2015. See Alliance’s Claims, our Alliance blog, and AUGUST 4-5 SUMMARY TRIAL FILINGS in LITIGATION UPDATES.
Congratulations to the ADCS-ADSC in reaching this milestone. Thank you for your leadership and hard work.
And thank you to the international donors, giving generously to strike a blow against FATCA in spite of the fact that the legal outcome in Canada may have no direct immediate benefit in your own countries.
Oops! – sorry about the repeated comment (due to technical error) – although if there’s anything that has earned repeating over and over it must surely be our thanks for your courage, work, hope, and determination! All the best!
Today’s headline was a wonderful sight for me first thing this morning! It is a historic day!
But it is so sad to learn of the death of yet another of our compatriots who would not live to see the indefensible extraterritorial tax laws of the United States overturned. Those of us who remain will fight on in our respective ways until they are!
@Native Canadian: Re Con signs: The Cons have broken the by-law in Simcoe-Grey and put up their signs all over the place. The NDP and Liberals at least have respected the law “No signs up until Sep”. There is no end to Harper’s arrogance. Another simple law broken!
@Ann The Cons arrogance will get them defeated in this election. their “money” will not make them win. I am working on a list of questions to send to every candidates Facebook and twitter page. If we embarass them, maybe they will talk. There is no law against communicating with them in the public eye and I can’t think of a better way…..
Just a note. T-Shirts ordered today. I will take a picture of the first run of them and if anyone has a better design or wants to order one,let me know. I will sell them for exactly what I paid for them.
@Lake Superior Guy. You said:
Pigs are soaring in Alberta. Who would ever have thought NDP would have a majority government in Alberta?!?
Those pigs are spreading their wings. Even dyed in the wool Conservative and Republican voter Stephen Kish has an NDP sign on his lawn. (I’m still wondering if I read that correctly!)
I am questioning though if an NDP government would make a difference. ADCS asked some direct questions almost five months ago, but there has been no reply.
You can the read the letter and exchanges between Murray Rankin’s Assistant and me at Maple Sandbox. (plus information on the Libs).
http://maplesandbox.ca/2015/fatca-letter-to-leaders-and-mps/
Blaze, you are correct — I am a Conservative and a Republican, and yet I do have an NDP sign on my lawn.
This morning in fact, I and my pure Canadian spouse were accosted by our Tory neighbor for supporting a party that opposes the government — that so easily gave away our rights.
@Blaze and Kish: It is the Harper Conservatives (their term) who are the radicals; the NDP is quite moderate (to my mind maybe too much so).
John Trent, now retired by formerly professor and head of the Department of Political Science at Carleton, has written a highly partisan, anti-Harper paper, “Harper’s Canada”, available in several versions at: http://www.johntrent.ca/. I recommend it to all Canadians. For supporters of IBS/ADCS outside Canada, it might be an eye-opener.
Thanks for providing this link, NorthernShrike. I look forward to reading it.
Stephen, when next your friendly neighbouring Conservative accosts you over your lawn sign, ask him this:
If Stephen Harper is honest, and believed what he said when he told Canadians that;
” You know, there’s two schools in economics on this. One is that there are some good taxes and the other is that no taxes are good taxes. I’m in the latter category. I don’t believe that any taxes are good taxes.”
– Stephen Harper, July 10 ”
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/globe-debate/a-very-scary-pm-i-dont-believe-that-any-taxes-are-good-taxes/article787808/
Then, if that is so, then how is it that he and his Cons are willing to fight the very Canadian citizens and taxpayers that they are sworn to protect and serve by misusing our own Canadian taxpayer made and owned tax revenues in order to assert the “right” of a foreign power (the US) to extraterritorially tax Canadian-owned, Canadian-generated and Canadian-sited assets?
And if Harper believes that no tax is a good tax, then why has he let the Canada US tax treaty continue to contain gaping and glaring tax treaty holes – which the US continues to exploint in order to assert taxing rights on the sale of our Canadian home, our registered savings accounts, and the education and birthday savings of children and those with disability savings and benefits?
Why do the Cons rush to tell us how much they ‘respect’ the ‘right’ of the US to determine its own tax system – and to help it tax Canadians when Harper doesn’t even believe in Canadian taxation?
Great article from the New York Times that sums up Stephen Harper and his disastrous run as PM.
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/08/16/opinion/sunday/the-closing-of-the-canadian-mind.html?WT.mc_id=2015-AUGUST-OTB-INTL_AUD_DEV-0801-0831&WT.mc_ev=click&ad-keywords=IntlAudDev&_r=0
@Blaze Thanks for the link to your correspondence to the NDP on Maple Sandbox. The silence you mention is unsettling. One would think that in an election year the candidates would be in “promise mode” which is better than silence…at least it would allow us to remind them later of their promises. Maybe they smell victory,and fear the wrath of the big banks if they make an issue of FATCA. They would also give Harper a big club with which to hit back, claiming the destruction of our economy through the thirty percent penalty imposition. We all know how the fear mongering game is played. But I thought some NDPers at least had principled stands on this issue. Maybe not.
I too look forward to reading that paper, NorthernShrike.
I believe most Canadians would tell the US where to stuff FATCA, if they knew about it. The question is whether that pervasive anti-Americanism would extend to their fellow citizens, the Americans in their midst.
And no, I won’t deny my American identity to appease bigots.
Good for Stephen Kish and his wife for putting an NDP sign on his lawn! I love it – ABC (anything but conservative) . In my neighborhood, I support the Liberal candidate. After trying to contact the Liberal and NDP candidates, I heard back from the Liberal but not the NDP. We need to vote strategically in our riding. I will be voting Liberal as NDP candidate did not bother with me and basically has no support in my riding.
Would like to hear how others are dealing with this.
@Lake Superior Guy: I was expecting much better from the NDP. The reason my communication has been with Murray Rankin’s office is because he is the NDP lead on FATCA.
@PatCanadian: The best Justin Trudeau could do on FATCA was to call what the Conservatives did “inadequate” and “insufficient.” He did not say what he and the Liberals would do about it. He did not respond to the questions we asked. Here is his letter.
http://maplesandbox.ca/wp-content/uploads/2015/07/Reply-Trudeau.pdf
You can read messages between my Liberal candidate and me in the Letter Leaders thread at Maple Sandbox.
http://maplesandbox.ca/2015/fatca-letter-to-leaders-and-mps/
She was at least trying to get some answers, but with very little results from #TeamTrudeau. My NDP candidate has had very little to say and has done virtually nothing on FATCA–despite the fact his wife was born in the U.S.
http://maplesandbox.ca/2015/fatca-letter-to-leaders-and-mps/
I am in a real quandary about how to vote. All I know is it won’t be Con.
I went into the Liberal campaign office here in St Thomas and made an appointment to see our candidate and ask questions regarding the Court challenges act and FATCA. I have yet to get that meeting. I emailed and called the NDP candidate for St Thomas and he answered me right away. This was last Thursday. He said he would call me and we could meet for coffee and talk about my issues. I left him an email with the issues I wanted to talk about and also left him with the idea he could contact Murry Rankin for information. I have never heard back. I have left 2 emails and 3 phone messages and nothing. What the hell is wrong with these people? USA has instilled FEAR in everyone in Canada except us? This is ridiculous. No wonder governments get overthrown….
@Blaze
RE: “The best Justin Trudeau could do on FATCA was to call what the Conservatives did “inadequate” and “insufficient.” He did not say what he and the Liberals would do about it. He did not respond to the questions we asked. Here is his letter.”
I don’t have answers on how to vote except ABC. In my riding, the Liberal candidate is more accessible and seems to have more of a chance at winning than NDP candidate. I have previously given her Justin Trudeau letter in response to questions from ADCS. Also gave her the questions along with much other info on the lawsuit. We have an ongoing conversation at this point about FATCA.
The Political leadership are pathetic toads. This sort of behavior ignoring the People is what gave rise to the American Revolution, the French Revolution and I suppose other violent events in history. Whilst I cannot agree to the violence, I believe that there needs to be a general blocking up of the system by protesters to get thinking to change.
Extracted from the main post above as a voiced open thought by Justice Martineau:
“Speaking pretty much to himself, he asked “If Canada did a bad bargain [it certainly did] will that help me decide [the highly technical questions] in the summary trial?
In my layman’s view, mayhap the answer that the Justice will arrive at might be “No, the bad bargain is of no consequence in this … what matters is the Law; does this FATCA IGA and its implementing legislation follow the Law.” Similarly, in other relevant consideration, perhaps Learned Justices will find that the Charter of Rights is of such fundamental importance that NO purported Law seeking to deny Canadians such Rights can be allowed to stand.
I continue to meditate on the seeming conspiracy of silence of Governments, Political Parties and Media world wide on the evil imposition of FATCA, the continued existence of CBT and the proposed imposition of CRS. I wonder whether this is an imposition of the Fabian Society working unseen behind the stage. Sadly, the people are being kept in ignorance whilst these chains are shackled around their legs.
We finally got the phone call asking for our support. As some of you know, I was a card carrying Conservative and had pledge to donate to the Conservatives, but instead donated to the legal fund. I also didn’t renew my membership. I really wished I had answered the phone. BUT Canadian husband did just fine!
“No, I don’t think you can count on our support this time around. We are angry over FATCA!”
Technical question.
Is judge Martineau being asked to decide whether FATCA violates the treaty and income tax act and should be scrapped entirely, or just as it applies to Canadian residents/citizens?
@Marie, “Is judge Martineau being asked to decide whether FATCA violates the treaty and income tax act and should be scrapped entirely, or just as it applies to Canadian residents/citizens?”
I am assuming that he could do any of the following;
1. The law is defective and falls completely, they have to start from scratch.
2. The Law is defective in certain respects and it partly falls. I had been pondering along these lines and was wondering if he could weave it and keep it standing to allow reporting on US Residents in the USA.
You know as I write #2, its ABSURD for the USA to put Canada through the wringer treating it as some tiny tropical island tax haven!! No one, no one, opens accounts in Canada to evade taxes!!!!
As close as this excellent summary (or any media article) refers to the *US Person in Canada* issue and the IGA (in OMNIBUS Budget Bill C-31, 2014) that legislates the implementation of the IGA signed with the US for their extra-territorial FATCA law in Canada to override Canadian laws and the Charter of Rights and Freedoms, creating in its wake two-tiered Canadian citizenship by national origin of an individual or an individual’s parent(s):
http://thetyee.ca/Opinion/2015/08/10/Harper-Abuses-of-Power-Final/
Conservatives Engage in Abuse of Process with Omnibus Bills
Harper’s party pushed legislation through Parliament via omnibus bills, the scale of which Parliament had never seen. Such bills are widely condemned as an abuse of the democratic process, because they blend and bury so many controversial laws within one dense package. Harper himself once railed against them, and his born again love for them made his own MPs queasy. Referencing such bills, former auditor general Sheila Fraser said that “Parliament has become so undermined that it is almost unable to do the job that people expect of it.”