Letters to New Government, Canada, November-December 2015
Letters and e-mails regarding FATCA/IGA that Brockers have sent to members of the new government in Canada, with links to the thread they first posted it on. Letters/e-mails appear here in reverse chronologically order, updated daily. Thanks to NoName for suggesting we compile these in one location.
Related Posts:
Contact Info for MPs, Cabinet Ministers, Committees
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Letters and E-mails:
… This is an example of a letter just sent to the AG by the Duke of Devon. Each of us will have their own point of view. This was cross posted from Sandbox: http://maplesandbox.ca/2015/dear-justice-minister-fatca-encroaches-stop-fatca/comment-page-1/#comment-525133
The Duke said:
“Hon. J. Wilson-Raybould
Minister of Justice, Government of Canada
I was thrilled about the Liberal victory in the recent election and with the Cabinet’s makeup. Congratulations.
In July 2014 Canada signed an agreement with the U.S.A. to implement an American law in Canada.
There are many things about this agreement which make it bad policy.
-It overrides Canadian sovereignty
-It discriminates against dual Canadian citizens and ‘accidental Americans’ on the basis of national origin
-It overrides privacy rights.
-The cost to the Government of Canada and the private sector far out way any possible benefit. The
Bank of Nova Scotia estimated their cost at $100 million! Benefit to Canada –nil.
There are many myths surrounding the adoption of the IGA.
‘Canada negotiated a better deal’. In fact the wording of the IGA is the same word for word as all other countries. The wording was dictated by the U.S.
‘There will be reciprocity’. In fact there won’t be reciprocity. The U.S. has committed to try their best. We turn over the names of American persons resident in Canada. They will try to turn over the names of Canadians resident in Canada. There is no conceivable way for the U.S. to reciprocate with 100 different countries.
‘We have no choice; our banks will not be able to business in the U.S.’. The idea that the US can withhold 30% of capital transferred to non-compliant banks is a giant bluff.
I could go on. There is a wonderful exposition of the FATCA follies at
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Foreign_Account_Tax_Compliance_Act?
There is a lawsuit underway opposing the IGA on the basis of Charter violations. (Hillis et. al. v. AGC et. al. ) We ask your officials to end the defense of the lawsuit and to repeal the IGA or amend it to exclude permanent residents of Canada.
Sincerely,
Duke”
*****
I just sent the following e-mail to Emmanuel Dubourg (who I hope may become Minister of National Revenue or other Cabinet Minister:
Congratulations on your reelection and on the election of a Liberal majority government.
As an Opposition MP and Liberal National Revenue Critic, you spoke out against the American Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (FATCA) being imposed on Canada and on Canadians. In the House of Commons on June 11, 2014, you said CRA “will do the dirty work of transmitting the information to the IRS…We are truly appalled by it, because doing this kind of thing to assist the Americans is not appropriate.”
In a letter to me on June 25, 2015, our new Prime Minister, Justin Trudeau said: The government of Canada has a responsibility to stand up for its citizens when foreign governments are encroaching on their rights. We believe that the deal reached between Canada and the U.S. is insufficient to protect affected Canadians.
Now that the Liberals have a majority government, I urge you and your colleagues to “stand up for (one mullion Canadians) when (a) foreign government (is) encroaching on their rights.”
You and your colleagues can stop CRA from doing the “dirty work of transmitting information to the IRS by:
1) taking immediate steps to seek a just resolution of the costly lawsuit forced upon innocent Canadian citizens;
2) repealing the enabling legislation for the FATCA Intergovernmental Agreement entered into under threat of economic sanctions.
3) informing the American government that Canadian rights, laws, constitution, Charter of Rights and Freedoms and sovereignty prevail over foreign law in Canada. Therefore, their FATCA will not be enforced in our free, democratic and sovereign country.Please make this a priority for our new government.
I sent similar e-mails to Scott Brison, Ralph Goodale and Marc Garneau using quotes from them.
As ACanadianLivingInCanada said to other Canadians living in Canada: BLAST THEM.
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Please everyone, get those letters in the mail. Here is the one I just sent to my MP. (I did not give background information because I have met with her and communicated with her during the campaign).
November 2, 2015
Ms. Kate Young
Member of Parliament
House of Commons
Ottawa ONDear Kate:
Congratulations on your election as Member of Parliament for London West. I look forward to being represented by an MP who will listen and respond to her constituents.
“A Canadian is a Canadian is a Canadian” (Justin Trudeau, Munk Debate, September 28, 2015)
“The government of Canada has a responsibility to stand up for its citizens when foreign governments are encroaching on their rights. We believe that the deal reached between Canada and the U.S. is insufficient to protect affected Canadians.” (Justin Trudeau in attached June 25 letter to me).
I appreciate the time you spent with me prior to the election to discuss the Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (FATCA) and the efforts you made to try to get a clear policy from the Liberal Party.
Now that the Liberals and Team Trudeau have been elected with a majority government, I ask you and your colleagues to ensure “A Canadian is a Canadian is a Canadian” despite where we were born. The Government of Canada must “stand up for its citizens (and residents) when foreign governments are encroaching on their rights.”
I now ask my elected Liberal government to do the right thing for one million Canadians by:
1) taking immediate steps to seek a just resolution of the costly lawsuit forced upon innocent Canadian citizens;
2) repealing the enabling legislation for the FATCA Intergovernmental Agreement entered into under threat of economic sanctions.
3) informing the American government that Canadian rights, laws, constitution, Charter of Rights and Freedoms and sovereignty prevail over foreign law in Canada. Therefore, their FATCA will not be enforced in our free and democratic country.I look forward to working with you to resolve the FATCA nightmare that encroaches on my rights as a Canadian citizen.
I will follow up and make an appointment to discuss this with you after your office is set up.
Lynne Swanson
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@ badger
Last night I lauded your digging expertise in an e-mail I sent and you certainly proved worthy with all the quotes you are digging up … worthy in spades! Great work … as always. Thank you.
I’ve been tweaking my letters which are set to go as soon as JT announces his cabinet. Goodale and Brison in there would be double good plus plus. If Dr. Hsu had only decided to continue serving into the 42nd Parliament we might have had a trifecta of FATCA aware cabinet ministers. Dr. Hsu was a gem. One of my latest tweaks is this:
They [ADCS] seek the repeal of the implementation of this U.S. law in Canada. If this is done swiftly it would prevent further litigation costs to both the Canadian plaintiffs (funded by donations) and the government defendants (funded by Canadian taxpayers).
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My email to my MP Anita Vendenbeld,
I voted for you.
Now please support me and one million Canadians (and their families) who were thrown under the bus when Harper hid FATCA in bill C-31.
I have been Canadian since birth. My parents and grandparents were born in Canada. Unfortunately, I happened to be born on American soil. I returned home to Canada under the age of 2 years and have lived here ever since (am now 53 years old).
According to US law, I am a criminal because I have not been filing annual Foreign Bank Account Reports (FBARS) detailing my Canadian bank accounts to the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network(FINCEN) in the USA. The penalties are 50% of the value of each account for every year of non-reporting for up to 6 years (i.e. 300% of the value of each account).
Like the majority of Canadians with a US birthplace, I had no clue until FATCA reared its ugly head, that USA considered me a US taxpayer on my Canadian income, nor that I was required to report my Canadian accounts annually to FINCEN.
The American law FATCA, is designed to search out and find people such as myself and thanks to Harper is now law in Canada. Canadian financial institutions are now required to ignore privacy laws, and Charter rights, in order to send Canadian bank account details (balances, etc) to the CRA which in turn forwards the information to the IRS. The first round of data was sent to the IRS in September with more to follow on an annual basis. Canadian taxpayers are footing the bills for Canadian financial institutions and for the CRA to send IRS what it wants. Note that although US claims FATCA is reciprocal, since we don’t care what Canadians living in other countries have in their bank accounts, Canada isn’t getting anything out of the ‘deal.’
It doesn’t take a genius to deduce what happens next. Soon, unfortunate Canadians will be getting scary letters in the mail from the IRS. It will start slow, and eventually pick up steam, as more tax evading Canadians owned by the USA are discovered hiding out in Canada (note the sarcasm here).
Unfortunately, renouncing US citizenship does not solve the problem for many of us. USA has raised its renunciation fee from $0 in 2009 to $450 a couple years ago, and then again to $2350 most recently (in US dollars). In addition, one must swear to having 5 years of tax compliancy at time of renunciation. If I told you what it takes to get ‘tax compliant’, your head would spin. Lets just start by saying that a single Canadian mutual fund is considered a ‘passive foreign income corporation’ subject to confiscatory taxation and mind-boggling reporting. For the average middle-income, middle-aged Canadian holding possibly several different mutual funds, reporting is a complicated, expensive nightmare requiring detailed banking information that is not normally even provided by Canadian banks. There is more. For example, RESPs and TFSAs are “foreign trusts” requiring more paperwork and are taxable by the USA. I’ll stop here. Personally, as a very middle-class Canadian who is a stay home parent, I am looking at several thousand dollars per year for each of the last 5 years just in reporting costs.
Since I don’t have 30 or 40K laying around, I am stuck with unwanted US citizenship. So are hundreds of thousands of other Canadians. Apparently we are in effect OWNED BY THE USA simply because we were born on American soil. And we must pay for our freedom. This is WRONG and a human rights violation.
In case you are not aware, there is a lawsuit that was filed against the Conservative government for agreeing to supply the IRS with the personal financial details of Canadians deemed ‘US persons’ by the USA. Concerned Canadians and citizens throughout the entire world (USA has inflicted FATCA on ALL countries in the world) have been funding the lawsuit while the Conservative government uses taxpayer funds to pay for its defense.
Please support the rights of all Canadians, even those born on US soil, to live normal financial lives in Canada, and to be free from the threat of confiscation of hard earned, already taxed life savings by the USA, not to mention the privacy risks (identity theft) of having their personal information sent to a foreign country.
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@ ACanadianLivingInCanada
This is part of my pending letter to my Conservative MP. I tried to infuse Canadian into it as much as possible.
…Allowing the U.S.A. to define a “U.S. person” means Canadians by birth and naturalization can be dragged into the U.S. tax net.
You cannot separate FBAR reporting from FATCA reporting. The two go hand in hand. So another aspect of this issue is the requirement to file FBAR (now FinCEN114) reports on accounts on which a U.S. deemed U.S. person merely holds signing authority. These accounts could belong to a spouse, a child, an aging parent, a business partner, a client — all of whom may not be U.S. persons themselves. Even when a U.S. person acts as a volunteer treasurer for a Canadian charity, his/her signing authority means having to provide the organization’s bank information to the U.S. Financial Crimes Enforcement Network. What possible crime could it be to volunteer for a Canadian charity?
Please be aware that the IRS threatens exorbitant penalties for unfiled or incorrectly filed FBAR reports — penalties which can actually exceed the number of dollars an account holds. These are earned in Canda, saved in Canada and fully taxed in Canada dollars which would end up in the U.S. Treasury. The U.S.A. seems to be aiming at confiscation of Canadian accounts by means of FBAR penalties. Most U.S. tax filers in Canada would not owe any U.S. taxes unless they hold some Canadian tax deferred accounts or perhaps have sold their primary residence (the gain is not taxed by Canada but it is taxed by the U.S.A.). Accounting fees for investment strategies like Canadian stocks or mutual funds can be so high as to rule out this type of financial planning for U.S. tax filers in Canada. Another loss for Canada.
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I have just sent the following email. Feel free to use it in correspondence with your (ex. new Liberal) MP
or any other member of the new Liberal govt.
To: justin.trudeau@parl.gc.ca Cc: scott.brison@parl.gc.ca, Nathan.Cullen@NDP.ca, Murray.Rankin@parl.gc.ca, elizabeth.may@parl.gc.ca, thomas.mulcair@parl.gc.ca
Dear Prime Minister-designate Trudeau:
I wish to address the issue of the United States 2010 law Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (“FATCA”) and how it potentially affects many thousands of Canadian citizens resident in Canada who possess some (often distant) degree of US origin.
As you may know, the United States feels that it has the right to tax any US citizen living and working anywhere in the world. This is commonly known as citizenship-based taxation (CBT) and is considered immoral and unjust. It is out of step with the rest of world, which practises residence-based taxation (RBT), whereby a country only taxes its residents. Only the African dictatorship of Eritrea, which has been condemned for human rights abuses, also practises CBT. The US has hypocritically criticized Eritrea at the United Nations for its “diaspora tax”.
Americans living in the US are effectively subject to RBT, but people deemed US citizens who live outside the US are still considered by the US government to have an obligation to file US tax returns and pay US taxes. This is essentially a US worldwide “place of birth” tax, and is unjust in more than one way:
i) The US designates people US citizens simply by place or birth (or by parents’ place of birth), whether these people consent to US citizenship or not. Many of these people are citizens (often from birth) of other countries and have no meaningful connection to the US (such as never having lived in the US or only having lived in the US as small children when their parents were temporarily studying or working there). The US (like Canada) practises birthright citizenship but (unlike Canada) does not allow easy and fair renunciation of US citizenship; there are onerous tax and financial barriers to renouncing US citizenship.
ii) It is a fundamental violation of international human rights for the US to tax residents of other countries on their income that is earned in their country of residence, who pay tax to their country of residence and who receive no services or benefits from the US. Nobody should have to pay taxes to a foreign country where they do not live or work. I am sure that the American politicians and government leaders who are leading their CBT campaign would never themselves consent to taxation by any foreign country!
US CBT was never previously enforced, which would require the co-operation of other countries. However now the US is trying to enforce their CBT with FATCA, which requires banks worldwide to report personal and private account balances of “US Persons” to the US Internal Revenue Service. The US has used its financial/capital markets clout to achieve this, by threatening a 30% penalty on US source income to any bank or financial institution that does not comply. This amounts to extortion.
Do not be fooled by the US rallying cry of catching tax evaders. FATCA is fine for US citizens living and earning income in the US who are hiding money in “offshore” accounts in tax havens such as the Cayman Islands. However, US CBT transforms FATCA from a just to an unjust law. Local Canadian accounts of Canadian citizens resident in Canada are not “offshore” – this is the definition of
absurdity.
As FATCA often breaks the privacy and anti-discrimination laws of other countries, the US has negotiated “IGA’s” (intergovernmental agreements) with many countries to override these laws. As you know, the previous Conservative government signed an IGA with the US in early 2014 and passed the IGA enabling legislation in the 2014 C-31 omnibus bill. This law violates sections 7, 8 and 15 of our Charter of Rights and Freedoms.
When this law was being debated by the Standing Committee on Finance in the House of Commons, there was a proposed amendment to exclude Canadian citizens or permanent residents who are resident in Canada from the FATCA IGA definition of a “US Person”. The Liberals (led by MP Scott Brison) and NDP (led by MP’s Nathan Cullen and Murray Rankin) voted for this amendment but it was defeated by the Conservative members. Elizabeth May and other Liberal and NDP MP’s have spoken eloquently against FATCA in the House of Commons. Ms. May’s Green Party promised to repeal the C-31 FATCA IGA enabling legislation in the recent election campaign.
Stephen Harper, for all his bluster about standing up to bullies, failed to stand up to the US bully. He failed to protect thousands of Canadian citizens from the unjust actions of the US. Stephen Harper failed to defend the sovereignty of Canada, allowing a foreign law to be enforced on Canadian citizens living in Canada. Canadian citizens designated as “US Persons” have been made second class citizens, their Charter and privacy rights violated.
This injustice needs to end. The C-31 FATCA IGA enabling legislation needs to be repealed or amended as described above. Canada needs to take a firm stand against the US with respect to FATCA. President Obama needs to be told that Canada will not allow her citizens to be treated in a discriminatory and unjust manner. The United States does not have a right to claim a tax filing “obligation” from any Canadian citizen or permanent resident who may possess some degree of US origin.
You have a chance to restore Canadian sovereignty and uphold the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms. We understand that you and your new Liberal majority government have many important priorities, which we also personally support. However please do not neglect the FATCA issue. Many thousands of Canadians are affected by this and need your help.
Thank you for your attention to this important matter.
Yours sincerely, (used my and my wife’s real names)
Working along with 3 other Brockers, I’ve been involved in writing a letter which we will be sending out to ALL of the MPs now elected – – likely next week once we are able to gather their email contact information.
Also, our small action committee has almost completed the building of an Excel spreadsheet listing ALL MP names for ALL constituencies across the country; this listing will include a section indicating all the new Ministers and Committee memberships. Contact information in Ottawa and at their constituency offices still needs inputting. But once this list is completed, we would be happy to forward it to anyone here at IBS who wants to share their email or go through Pacifica (it’s probably too big a file and not in a form to be posted directly here, tho we will post the letter once sent). These are works in progress but we are moving to MAKE NOISE very soon!!!!!
Lastly, just today a group-written outreach letter was sent to Louise Arbour, bringing to her attention that not only did she lose her financial privacy under C-31 (SEE: http://isaacbrocksociety.ca/2015/10/15/louise-arbour-my-children-and-i-are-caught-in-a-useless-bureaucratic-nightmare/comment-page-1/ ) but we wanted her to know about the plight of millions of other Canadians effected by another section of this omnibus bill. More will be reported on this if a reply is (hopefully) received. Other projects are on our TO DO list; we are Canadian Women, hear us ROAR!
Good on you. Contact information for both Ottawa and constituency offices will most likely, as well, soon be available on Government of Canada site as it has been in the past — you might link to that so any updates would be automatic by the source.
http://www.parl.gc.ca/Parliamentarians/en/members/addresses
http://www.canada.ca/en/government/ministers/index.html
Wonder if the Louis Arbour situation (also as part of Bill C-31, 2014) was instigated by US requirements as well. http://www.state.gov/j/inl/rls/nrcrpt/2015/vol2/239063.htm, which concludes:
Bravo LM and the other 3 Brockers! That up-to-date contact list will be most appreciated.
Here is the text of the letter created by 4 Brockers that now has been sent to most 2015 MPs (last ones to be sent on Thursday). The Title in the SEND line of each email was A Canadian is a Canadian – not so under Bill C-31 part 5 (IGA)- please review/rectify
To all Members of Canada’s 42nd Parliament, November 2015,
Our sincere congratulations to all of you on being elected to serve the people of Canada. As you know, your new government has much work ahead and there is much damage to be repaired.
Mr. Trudeau has stated many times, “a Canadian is a Canadian is a Canadian”. As people who became “hyphenated Canadians” under the previous government, we are personally counting on all of you to restore the principles of unity and equality to our nation.
On February 5, 2014 the previous government turned us into second-class citizens even though many of us are Canadians who have lived in this country for many, many years, if not virtually our entire lives. Why? Because we were born in the United States.
The legislation passed on the above date is buried deep in Bill C-31 as Part V. This confirmation of an Intergovernmental Agreement (IGA) requires our banks and investment brokers to determine if we are “US Persons” and, if so identified, report the balances of our accounts (plus other personal identifying and financial details) to the Canada Revenue Agency for the sole purpose of reporting those to the United States Internal Revenue. Birthplace is one of those “identifying details”. If they make this discovery, they must ask us to fill out (under penalty of perjury) an IRS (or substitute) form which states that we are no longer US citizens. If we decline on the basis that our Canadian passports or naturalization certificates should suffice to prove our citizenship status, our account information will either be shared with the IRS against our will or our accounts may be closed.
It is unacceptable for any citizen of this land to be treated in such a manner (or live with the fear of being thusly treated at some point in the future) in the name of a tax information-sharing program with a foreign state (our “best friend” and trading partner notwithstanding). In order to protect Canada’s banks, the previous government said it had no choice but to sign this IGA with the United States and comply with this reporting. In so doing it sacrificed the financial privacy of a large segment of the Canadian population on the basis of birthplace or nationality.
As well, it has removed the right of this same group of Canadians to save and invest as they see fit. Because of the FATCA IGA, if individuals in this subset of Canadians wish to open certain types of accounts, they must now answer the question, “What is your birthplace?” Only those born in the USA will be affected negatively by the answer to that question. It is blatantly discriminatory and should have no place in the financial institutions of this nation. The existence of that question has caused many couples to separate their jointly-held assets, returning many women (quite effectively) to the 19th century.
An effort to bring this matter before the Canadian court is underway. During the first phase of the lawsuit, the judge found that current law allows for the reporting, and only Parliament can change the law. Therefore, we are asking you – as the new Canadian Parliament – to do just that.
The Agreement adopted into Canadian law on February 5, 2014 is up for review during 2016. The United States is now facing a Canadian government that fully respects our Charter of Rights and Freedoms, which clearly upholds that “A Canadian is a Canadian is a Canadian”.
The new Canadian government is entirely within its rights to axe the IGA completely, and at any time. We feel strongly that it should, based solely on the fact that the previous Canadian government did not properly explore the IGA’s Constitutional and Charter implications (a matter now before Canadian courts). We ask, at the very least, for the removal of all references to a US birthplace being grounds for a bank to report an account. It is preposterous in the extreme for the United States to demand tax reporting from individuals who have not lived in that country since they were infants. We also ask that Canadian citizens and permanent residents be absolutely exempt from reporting under a new Agreement.
For those unfamiliar with the US law (Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act or FATCA) to which Canada acquiesced by signing the above-referenced IGA, the following link will bring you up to speed. http://isaacbrocksociety.ca/wp-content/uploads/2015/07/Introduction-to-FATCA-for-Canadians.pdf References to further information can be found on its final page.
In addition, the following link provides a glimpse into the horrors that one Canadian family is now experiencing due to the passage of this law. Similar agonies are being experienced in many households across this country. The letter at this link is addressed to the US President but it is Canada’s Agreement to accept and comply with the US law that infuses the situation with such fear and urgency on our side of the border. http://isaacbrocksociety.ca/2015/10/19/interview-opportunity-abc-news-nightline-would-like-to-interview-an-american-living-abroad-who-is-in-the-process-of-renouncing-his-or-her-us-citizenship/comment-page-2/#comment-6740570
We ask the 42nd Parliament to return this country to the inclusive and protective society that it used to be.
Sincerely,
Name & contact info
@LM, bravo on the letter
LM and the other Brockers,
Thanks for taking the time and effort for sending your good letter to the MPs.
Each letter makes it more difficult for the new Liberal government to say that it just did not know.
@ LM and your 3 cohorts
That’s a well worded letter and I can see the care and time you all put into it. Thank you for that extraordinary effort. I once sent individual e-mails (no cc’s) to every member of parliament and I remember how long that took (4 days of copy-paste-send). I got 50 replies but I’m hoping your number is much higher than that. Good luck! And keep us posted re: the replies. I’m sure you’re aware that they might be a little slow in coming as the members are just setting up shop right now. I remember Joe Oliver waited 11 months to reply to one of my e-mails. He was very, very, slow in getting his office organized (I guess) after he took over for the late Jim Flaherty.
Good work, LM and friends!!!
Thanks for your collaborative efforts. Hope you get some good response from those you are helping educate.
Bravo!
“A Canadian is a Canadian – not so under Bill C-31 part 5 (IGA)- please review/rectify”
This is to confirm that now letters have been sent by email to all MPs in the new Liberal government by us four Brockers. We will be sending follow up letters as well. If anyone has ideas, please let us know.
Another letter out, this time to Scott Brison. He is not my local MP, but he is the MP in my daughter’s riding and I did meet him (casually) once. The letter is long due to the inclusion of 10 vignettes to give examples of what effects have been felt following the institution of FATCA on July 1, 2014; I really wanted him to know what has been happening, especially since he was there with the Finance Committee discussing FATCA prior to it’s passage. He worked hard against it but did he know what was happening on the ground now to 1 million Canadians since there?
These vignettes covered a couple who were denied a mortgage renewal because one was a US Person / how people have put themselves in financially vulnerable positions by withdrawing their name from jointly held accounts to sustain the privacy of their partner’s financial records / how lawyers and Powers of Attorney are being faced with breach of confidentiality issues if they (or the person they are signing for) are “US Persons / about the Mayor of Stanstead’s CBC interview mentioning 20-30% there being border-babies and now confronting the US taxman / of how the price of renunciation (and relinquishment!) has soared and the exit tax and the distinction between loss of national-citizenship and loss of tax-citizenship (I did note that in Canada the fee was $100 and could be done by mail) / and other issues
What I asked was, given that he had strongly challenged this legislation, if he might consider what approaches could be taken “to lift this unprecedented burden off one million Canadians (and their families and their businesses), to return full sovereignty to Canadian law, to stand up against international extortionist practices (even those of our southern neighbor) and to reinstate full rights and protection to all Canadians” and that I “look forward to hearing any advice, suggested contacts or processes you can offer to help rectify this inequity”
This was sent to his Ottawa office via email (subject: Requesting thourough review of Bill C-31 (part 5) and by printed letter to his constituency office (I figured getting two staff members in different places to open and read initially might increase the likelihood of it resonating with this new Minister’s staff and, thus, be pushed along to him. Now, must get on the phone and see if I can make an appointment with our brand new/ first time elected and in a new riding Liberal MP…..
The noise-making gals have been at it again. Here is the text of a letter sent today to various MPs under the heading “The rights of Canadian Human Citizens vs the rights of Canadian beef and pork”
Dear [NAME & PARLIAMENTARY OR PARTY ROLE],
Canada has just won the right to retaliate against the United States for discriminatory meat labeling according to the World Trade Organization. The WTO ruling allows Canada to take the US to task for the way it labels steak and bacon. Yet one million Canadian human beings still remain “chopped liver”.
Why? Because they are discriminatorily labeled “made in the USA” and required to submit to life-long US financial monitoring and tax filing obligations.
It doesn’t matter that we didn’t choose to be born there, that we have lived beyond the US borders for decades or even our entire lives or that we have not worked or invested there. It doesn’t matter that we do not receive any US government services. The United States has deemed us — Canadian citizens and residents — subject to US tax law.
The US practice of citizenship-based taxation is unlike that of ALL other major countries in the world (which tax based on residency). This results in a “tariff” – – a permanent marker on the “heads” of anyone with “US indicia”. No matter where we live in the world, it results in financial and investment complications, possibly occupational constraints, additional costs and privacy risks to ourselves and to all joint account holders. It results, quite frankly, in second-class citizenship in the country of our residency.
So far the Canadian government has marched in lock-step with the United States on this issue. On February 5, 2014 the previous government passed a law (Bill C-31, part 5) agreeing to turn over to the United States formerly private banking and other personal and financial details of any Canadian citizen or permanent resident who possesses evidence of deemed US citizenship such as place of birth. By agreeing to perpetually monitor our financial activities for the benefit of the IRS the Canadian government is subjecting us to surveillance not imposed upon any other segment of the Canadian population.
We are your fellow Canadians who, according to the Canadian Constitution, deserve the same rights as all Canadians, no matter what our national origin. We are your fellow Canadians and demand to be labeled solely as such by the Canadian government. “A Canadian is a Canadian is a Canadian.” Period.
You have had the courage to retaliate against the Americans for their discrimination against Canadian beef and pork. How much more important is it to retaliate against them for their treatment of Canadian people. The current situation facing US-born Canadians cannot be allowed to continue. Yet there is no sign that the Liberal government intends to alter the path upon which the Conservatives embarked.
We ask those in positions of influence within the Liberal caucus to act on behalf of the very significant number of Canadians who have been mislabeled by two governments! We ask that Part 5 of Bill C-31 be amended to exempt all Canadian citizens and permanent residents from the Intergovernmental Agreement (IGA) enabling the operation of the US Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (FATCA) in Canada.
We would be happy to provide any further information.
(OUR NAMES & EMAIL ADDRESSES)
@ LM and your collaborators
Oh, oh, oh … that is soooooooo good. Chopped Liver — perfect!
LM and all,
Thanks for making noise in a common sense / down-to-earth way that should be quite easy for the new government to understand — taking the US Canadian beef and pork discrimination and the Canadian government’s readiness for retaliation and comparing it to Canadians / who are living human beings. What a great media piece that could make.
Great work LM et al.
@Calgary411 (RE “What a great media piece that could make.”) In terms of media connections, I am a total novice (I do better with letters and charts, like the 2015 Parliament list, see http://isaacbrocksociety.ca/canada-this-week-contact-the-new-government-re-fatca/ ); if you (or anyone else) has connections with appropriate folks in the media and would be able to take the text of this letter and get it spread around, please please do.
LM,
Any Canadian journalist I have talked with would want to interview the persons who actually authored and sent this to Canadian government representatives. I would be a go-between. Tricia has a media database you might be able to use to send to the media what you have sent to the Canadian government.
I’ve just posted the new edition of LM’s List of e-mail addresses and phone numbers for MPs, cabinet ministers and parliamentary committees. It’s also accessible (1) in the original post at the top of this screen and (2) through the Sidebar in the “Take Action!” box under either “Contact the New Govt re FATCA or “Anti-FATCA Materials.”
There are 5 lists on this spreadsheet (tab to access each is its lower left-hand corner):
MPs by Constituency Name
Cabinet and Committees
MPs by Last Name
MPs by Province
MPs along the Border
Thanks very much to LM, Charl, MuzzledNoMore and Pat Canadian for compiling this useful information!
I have just sent this email to Minister Brison, the PM, Minister of Finance, Minister of Justice/AG and Minister of National Revenue:
The Honourable Scott Brison Dec. 14/15
President of the Treasury Board of Canada
Dear Minister Brison:
We are writing to you about the Bill C-31 FATCA-IGA enabling legislation. We recall your involvement as a member of the Standing Committee on Finance when this law was being debated in 2014. As you know, the Conservatives used their majority to pass this law, which discriminates against Canadian citizens who possess some degree of United States origin (such as a US place of birth or parents’ place of birth).
During the Committee deliberations, you stated that the Conservative government could have negotiated a better IGA, one that:
i) satisfies the concerns of the Canadian banks and financial institutions (to not run afoul of the the US 30% penalties for FATCA non-compliance)
and
ii) upholds the Charter and privacy rights of Canadian citizens resident in Canada.
At present, this law violates Charter (sections 7, 8 and 15) and privacy rights of Canadian citizens who are defined solely by the USA as “US Persons”.
You were among the Committee members who voted for an amendment to exclude Canadian citizens (and permanent residents) who are resident in Canada from the FATCA-IGA definition of a US Person. If passed, this amendment would have achieved your goal of a better IGA.
We realize that this issue does not fall under your new role as President of the Treasury Board, but with your background knowledge and understanding, we feel that you are in a unique position in the new Liberal government to share your expertise with the Prime Minister, Minister of Finance, Minister of Justice and Minister of National Revenue. This American attack on the sovereignty of Canada with resultant discrimination of Canadians of US origin must end.
Your new Liberal majority government can now pass this amendment. The fear of not appeasing the United States must be overcome. Although the USA is a formidable presence as Canada’s “closest friend and ally”, with our dependence on the US for trade and security, there comes a time when a government must take a stand for the rights of its citizens and the sovereignty of its nation. A time when it must stand up for the principles of fairness and justice over the extortionate threat of harm to its economy.
Our Canadian banks are terrified of the 30% IRS penalties on US source income, especially with their substantial US investments and assets (ex. TD, BMO and most recently RBC). But will the US really wage economic war on Canada over FATCA?
When criticizing the Conservatives in not negotiating a better IGA, you stated that relationships matter. Prime Minister Trudeau has stated his intent to build a closer relationship with the United States. Perhaps he can achieve and use warmer relations with President Obama to enable the President to understand and accept that Canada will not allow her citizens’ Charter rights to be violated, and that FATCA and US citizenship taxation are unjust laws when applied to Canadians living in Canada.
Hypocrisy abounds with FATCA and US citizenship taxation. The US has criticized Eritrea at the United Nations for its “diaspora tax”, while US extraterritorial tax and FBAR penalty claims are far worse, even potentially bankrupting. The former Conservative government undertook measures to defend Canadians of Eritrean origin (ie. expulsion of an Eritrean diplomat) but bowed in submission to the US with FATCA. It even stated that the United States has the “right to tax its citizens”.
The United States imposes birthright citizenship upon people whether they consent to it or not. The unjust financial and tax barriers to US expatriation violate the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (Article 15{2}), which the US voted for in 1948; the famous American Eleanor Roosevelt even chaired the drafting committee of the UDHR.
Canadians who are defined as “US Persons” by the US are not the property of the US. If the new Liberal government will not defend the human rights of its own citizens against the unjust actions of a foreign country, then a sad reality will exist. The reality that “US might makes right” and that Canada’s Charter of Rights and Freedoms has no real value.
Law-abiding Canadians have been made to feel like criminals about fulfilling their US “tax filing obligations”. Unscrupulous “cross-border” accounting firms have taken advantage of these people and profited from these unjust laws. Many (often of retirement age) have suffered significant stress, anxiety, depression and related health problems over the loss (or prospect of loss) of significant portions of their Canadian retirement, education and disability savings to the US Treasury.
Prime Minister Trudeau has stated that the current FATCA IGA is insufficient to protect Canadians. Minister Wilson-Raybould has made clear her commitment to upholding the Charter rights of all Canadians. Minister Brison, please help your new government end this violation of financial privacy and Charter rights of thousands of Canadians. We truly want to believe the Prime Minister’s resolute declaration:
“A Canadian is a Canadian is a Canadian”
Thank you, (my and my wife’s names)
@MrA, superb…
Thank you, Mr. (and Mrs.) A.
I am about to walk out the door to attend a Christmas reception with newly elected Minister of Veterans Affairs, Kent Hehr. I will congratulate him, wish him well and remind him that (since he says he will represent all Calgarians) that I have requested a short meeting with him to discuss FATCA and I will give him (or someone representing him) a copy of your letter to Mr. Brison.
Excellent letter to Minister Brison.
@ Mr. A.
The “A” must be for “AWESOME”. You and Mrs. A. have written another excellent letter.
@ calgary411
That sounds like a good plan. As much as they might wish it, FATCA is NOT going away!
@calgary411
Thanks for helping to try to get Mr. Brison to see our letter. I am also going to print out copies and send them in the regular mail to the PM and other ministers.
@EmBee
Yes, the more people keep badgering the new government, the better!