Thank you, MP Peter Julian for your responsible question in Question Period.
Video version with English simultaneous translation:
Alternate video version with floor audio (spoken English and French without translation):
Thank you, MP Peter Julian for your responsible question in Question Period.
Video version with English simultaneous translation:
Alternate video version with floor audio (spoken English and French without translation):
Did anybody else get a little tingly….and then all rage-y while watching this?
Julian looked and sounded great and had a lot of people applauding his words.
She on the other hand, looked….. silly.
Every politician has a advisory group that furnishes talking points on a range of subjects and every time that subject comes up they regergitate the same answer. Usually it barely makes any sense to sane people and is usually off the point enough to make your head want to explode.
My own congressman knows about the FairTax and what it entails, but his form letter,Email, sound bite answer goes thus,”I will take your views in mind when the subject of taxes comes up”. He won’t say he for or against, even when face to face. He is typical, not out of the ordinary and I suspect he would be interchangable with any member of the Canadian house of commons.
It’s the script handed down to her by the last government, isn’t it?
I have my own question for Mr Julian.
“Dear Mr Julian,
Thank you for your renewed efforts to hold our government accountable for this unprecedented handover of Canadian banking information to a foreign government, and to the CRA itself. You may recall that you and I spoke about this in Gibsons, where I had the opportunity to meet both you and Larry Koopman prior to the election.
Please be aware that I’ve offered myself as a witness in the ADCS lawsuit against the FATCA IGA. My MP, Pamela Smith-Jones, in spite of repeated efforts, has not been able to get the Revenue Minister to confirm whether my Canadian banking information has been sent to the IRS. This is unacceptable. Can you help?”
Why does she have “a little pink flashcard”? Simply because she is, as can be heard in her “performance” a real true lightweight, without any knowledge, understanding nor actual interest in this very important affair. She also appears to be intellectually challenged, a real political amateur!
I would suggest that we see these weaknesses as a great advantage. Those bringing this law suit should put the adversary on the total defensive, by continuously putting out statements such as the following:
– “We are outraged at the lack of knowledge of the case and the inability to grasp the seriousness of these fundamental Charter violations that the Finance Minister appears to be unaware of and unconcerned by.”
– “We reiterate that we will continue to demand accountability from and action by those officials elected to protect all Canadians and will repeatedly draw the medias’ and public’s attention to the seriousness of the violations of Canadian citizens’ Charter Rights through the IGA related to the implementation of FATCA in Canada and its discrimination of over 1 million Canadian citizens.”
– “The Minister of Finance will be held accountable for any violation of a Canadian citizens’ Charter Rights related to her support of the IGA and repeated demands will be issued for her immediate resignation via the media.”
– “The Prime Minister needs to account for the withdrawal of his earlier support against implementing the FATCA IGA and explain why he now deems the FATCA IGA as not violating the Charter Rights of a group of Canadian citizens. A reply to this question will be requested through the media on a constant and ongoing basis until such explanation has been given.”
As a lawyer, I find that you are often far too gentle and reserved in your approach, especially after everything that has been suffered by those affected. The case is clearly one of blatant discrimination. You can not, under Charter rules, treat one group of Canadians differently than another group. Period. The question that should be asked of any official is, “why have you not sent the data of every Canadian citizen to the U.S., but only limited your search and data transfer to a small group of Canadians?” The next question following the reply: “So, you are discriminating against a particular group, in this case this with U.S. parents, or simply a U.S. birthplace?” Next question: Would you consider providing and sending the data of ALL Canadians to the U.S. authorities, your own and that of your family, for example?” “Are there two categories of Canadian citizen as related to the application of laws?” Case closed!
Ms. Milk Braids needs a new script
Her major contribution thus far has been that she forms part of Trudeau’s female quota. A social worker as Minister of Revenue. Lovely. Clearly she has no idea what she is talking about, and is waaaay out of her depth. The robotic answers reveal the cynical approach by the “new way” government. Have to say I didn’t notice too many heads behind her nodding in agreement. Won’t happen, but to see her on the witness stand would be great entertainment.
@ Roger
“The question that should be asked of any official is, “why have you not sent the data of every Canadian citizen to the U.S., but only limited your search and data transfer to a small group of Canadians?”
Absolutely correct. They need to have their feet held to the fire. Another would be “Why do you provide private information to a foreign government that even our own tax agency cannot get without court approval?”
Did you notice the environment minister’s unhappy face in the background? She doesn’t look too happy with what the revenue minister is saying.
“Her major contribution thus far has been that she forms part of Trudeau’s female quota. ”
You just had to go there eh Mr. Canuck?
Why is a social worker in charge our revenue agency? No offence to social workers.
As a follow-up to what I posted on this thread earlier, it would be an excellent idea if one or more MPs, supportive of The Isaac Brock Society and this case, would propose and draft legislation “in solidarity with those Canadians suffering from discrimination by their own government,” requiring the private banking data of ALL Canadian citizens be sent to the United States, including that of all Ministers and their families, as well as the Prime Minister and his family.
For those of you who are good in historic legends, you may remember the often discounted story that, when during the Nazi occupation of Denmark, the Nazi occupiers issued a decree that all Jews had to wear a yellow Star of David in public from the following day, that same night the Danish Resistance issued the following statement:
From the German occupation headquarters at the Hotel D’Angleterre came the decree: ALL JEWS MUST WEAR A YELLOW ARMBAND WITH A STAR OF DAVID.
That night the underground transmitted a message to all Danes. ‘From Amalienborg Palace, King Christian has given the following answer to the German command that Jews must wear a Star of David. The King has said that one Dane is exactly the same as the next Dane. He himself will wear the first Star of David and he expects that every loyal Dane will do the same.’ The next day in Copenhagen, almost the entire population wore armbands showing a Star of David. The following day the Germans rescinded the order.
Whether this Danish account is 100% historically true, the current Canadian Government’s desecration of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms and the past and current governments’ ignoring the fundamentals of this most sacred and important document, is equal to the Danish story sited above. In this case, the “Nazi occupier” is the bully to the south and the occupied territory is our very own beloved Canada. What is good for one Canadian is good for all, so instead of fighting to be treated like the majority, the clever tactic to turn this entire debacle on its head, would be to demand that all Canadians be treated as the group being discriminated against. ALL CANADIANS SHOULD HAVE THEIR PRIVATE BANKING INFORMATION SENT TO THE U.S.! That will change the dynamic of this debate and get everyone to focus on what is happening. It will also make it more than obvious that a large group of Canadians, up to one million, are being discriminated against and being treated differently than their fellow Canadians due to where they were born, or where one of their parents may have been born.
This government also needs to be asked if it would accept a law requiring the private banking information of all Canadian Muslims be sent to the U.S….and then move on to all Canadian gay and transgendered people. Other groups would be added later…
Show these morons how absurd they are in supporting clear and unambiguous discriminatory acts against their own citizens and against the Charter, the very document that they have sworn to uphold and respect.
You need to be more clever and inventive in your approach. I often feel like your approach is as bureaucratic and dry as the very government that you are suing.
@John Canuck
That is the CRA “used” to need a court order for. Thanks to the IGA, the CRA too will have unprecedented levels of information on one specific group of Canadians.
Roger,
That is exactly, as I see it, how none of this would be discriminatory toward one group of Canadians by their national origin or the national origin of their parent(s) — that the private banking information of ALL CANADIANS be sent to the US. Additionally, then let the over-worked and under-funded IRS deal with it all. Would that wake up a few people, including our elected government representatives?
And, as a simple courtesy, could the Minister of National Revenue give her answers on this topic in the English language (or both – just turn the script card over and have it all there in English as well)? We US Citizens who happen to abide in Canada, though some of us were even born here and never lived a day in what the Canadian government considers our homeland, do not have French as a second language.
I like the idea to have one or more supportive parliamentarians propose a law to have all Canadians bank account information sent to the United States. That will certainly “wake them up” and draw necessary attention to this cause. I challenge a parliamentarian to voluntarily have his or her private bank account information sent to the CRA under the condition that it is forwarded on to the IRS. Hopefully other legislators will join in and that will get the media attention necessary and expose this travesty and attack on our Charter to wide public debate.
I also agree that we often look, in our ideas, more bureaucratic and dull than the officials who we are taking on. No fight ever won with standard ideas. It always takes some daring and originality, the very thing that the quite ridiculous looking and behaving Minister of Finance lacks in spades.
@Marie A more compelling question is why isn’t Emmanuel Dubourg–a bilingual accountant with an MBA and 20 years working for CRA–not Minister of National Revenue.
I believe it’s because of Dubourg’s strong opposition to FATCA, both in the House of Commons and in this article.
http://news.nationalpost.com/full-comment/emmanuel-dubourg-an-attack-on-our-privacy
I think Trudeau knew he couldn’t appoint someone who publicly called FATCA “an attack on our privacy…dangerous..dirty work”. If Dubourg had been appointed Minister, it would have been tough for him to stand up and defend FATCA in the House of Commons or in court.
So instead, Dubourg is Parliamentary Secretary of National Revenue. He has been totally silent on FATCA since the appointment.
I have written or e-mailed Dubourg several times. No response.
What do you think Dubourg would do if financial records of anyone born in Haiti were sent there (Dubourg was born there).
I was interviewed this morning by a reporter from the Toronto Star for an article that he expects will appear tomorrow. I told him about Dubourg’s comments and suggested he try to get a comment from Dubourg. He was going to try Dubourg and Brison today.
Nice work as usual, Blaze.
@ Blaze
Hi-Five on the Star article. If that reporter manages to get a response and it isn’t just parroted pink flashcard speak, it will be quite a scoop. Fingers crossed …
Marie, re: “Why is a social worker in charge our revenue agency? No offence to social workers. ”
How could anyone, even a social worker, take offence? It’s not like you were suggesting the minister’s gender had anything to do with her ineptitude in revenue.
@Roger…….your comments are superb and accurate.
Post FATCA I have learned that it was the in your face approach that led to action.
@All
I have added a video version I prepared from ParlVU which contains the full English simultaneous interpretation of Minister Lebouthillier’s response. Here is the OpenParliament English transcript as well:
@Deckard
Thanks for translating the Minister’s response because I don’t understand French. Unfortunately, after reading the English version I still don’t understand it.
Which gives me an idea. Perhaps a good interim solution would be for the CRA to send all information to the US in French. By the time the IRS got around to translating everything the affected taxpayers would be dead; problem solved.
Bravo — a translation has come to our rescue. Thanks, Deckard, once again for your fine work in providing these resources for us.