Monthly Archives: December 2013

http://www.fin.gc.ca/n13/13-159-eng.asp

Items unavailable to “US Persons” who are disabled are bolded.

The Honourable Jim Flaherty, Minister of Finance, and the Honourable Jason Kenney, Minister of Employment and Social Development and Minister for Multiculturalism, today marked the International Day of Persons with Disabilities.

“From introducing the Registered Disability Savings Plan in 2007 to the initiatives in this year’s budget supporting job opportunities, our Government continues to support Canadians with disabilities and their families,” said Minister Flaherty. “We recognize that Canadians with disabilities play an important role in our society, and through Canada’s Economic Action Plan, we are committed to helping them achieve a better quality of life.”

“Our Government is hard at work to ensure our country benefits from the talents of Canadians with disabilities. Today, and throughout the year, we will continue to help Canadians with disabilities be active participants in the economy and their communities,” added Minister Kenney.

Since 2006, the Government of Canada has introduced a number of measures to address the needs of people with disabilities, including:

• Providing $1 billion for renovations and energy retrofits of social housing, including renovations that support people with disabilities.
• Investing $400 million over two years for the construction of new social housing for seniors, including seniors with disabilities.
• Investing an additional $75 million over two years for the construction of new social housing units for people with disabilities.
• Investing $20 million for each of two years to improve the accessibility of federally owned buildings.
• Introducing the Working Income Tax Benefit (WITB), which includes a supplement for persons with disabilities, and doubling the tax relief provided by the WITB.
• Increasing the Home Buyers’ Plan withdrawal limit and introducing the First-Time Home Buyers’ Tax Credit, which contain special provisions for persons with disabilities.
• Increasing access to post-secondary education for students with permanent disabilities, including a new Repayment Assistance Plan for Borrowers with a Permanent Disability.

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This weekend I spoke at length with a concerned Canadian citizen (ChearsBigEars) who believes that the time to launch the mother of all class actions lawsuits against the banks has already arrived.  Why should we wait until the banks actually deprive Canadian citizens of their Charter rights?  What if the banks are already in the process of planning to violate those rights?  Would that not constitute a conspiracy to violate their rights?

Suppose TD Bank decided to ban some minority–let’s say anyone who is not white.  Now they put out an advertisement that they wish to hire a bouncer who will stand at the door and prevent non-white people from entering the bank.  Would those people who are about to have their rights violated have to wait until they were bounced or could they go ahead and launch a lawsuit based upon a conspiracy to violate Charter rights?  My contact suggests that we can go ahead and sue the banks in a class action lawsuit and that we should do it right away, and it should be for one billion CDN dollars, to reflect the seriousness of this rights violation and the actual damages that are being inflicted by the United States as a result of the banks’ plan to implement FATCA.  We can do this because TD Bank (et al.) has put out placement ads asking for FATCA compliance officers–not to mention the hundreds of millions of dollars that they have already spent putting a system in place to discriminate against comfortable and concerned clients.  Here is plea that he sent me to share with the readers of the Isaac Brock Society: Continue reading →

Bubblebustin has had to postpone the protest but would like to have one in the near future.

Bubblebustin would like to know if there are any West coasters interested in being part of a FATCA protest in downtown Vancouver, Ministry of Finance, 300 Georgia Street West, Monday Dec 2 at 1 pm. The press are invited:http://www.fin.gc.ca/notices-avis13/2013-11-29-eng.asp

Dec 25 UPDATE:

My Christmas letter response to TD Bank CEO Ed Clark:

December 25, 2014

Ed Clark
Group President and
Chief Executive Officer
TD Bank
Toronto Dominion Centre
P.O Box 193
Toronto ON
M5K 1H6

Dear Mr. Clark,

Re: Customer(s) declines TD Bank’s comfortable FATCA experience and cancels bank account

You might remember me as the customer who requested that your bank remove an offensive statement from your website. In the offending sentence TD Bank states a commitment to “ensure” that its US customers in Canada, terrified by having their bank records forcibly turned over by your bank to US IRS, will somehow receive a “comfortable” experience while they are being FATCA’d.

The response to my request, issued jointly from three departments, was surprising: TD Bank is adamant, illogically, that it can actually provide meaningful comfort for its US customers who are being FATCA’d (e.g., customers will listen to Mozart sonata while seated in proprietary TD-green recliner?). Paradoxically the letter also notes that your bank might revise the offensive sentence in future—but why consider revising, as you insist that the statement is accurate, fair, and not offensive?

TD Bank also shifts the blame, unfairly I feel, to the hapless Canadian Bankers Association which never promised on behalf of any Canadian bank–not even TD Bank– a positive FATCA experience to customers. Your bank is the only financial institution in Canada, probably even worldwide, to make the extraordinary claim of comfort provided while a foreign government confiscates a customer’s life’s savings. In this respect, TD Bank’s service may well be, as you say, “legendary.”

I just wanted to let you know that I cancelled my account with TD Bank the day after I received your bank’s unacceptable response. I now have an account with another major Canadian bank that does plan to FATCA me, but will treat me with better respect by not aiming to give a comfortable FATCA experience.

For the future I am considering banking with one of the smaller credit unions that will not provide any FATCA experience whatsoever to its customers.

Mr. Clark, please appreciate that there are one million (plus) US person households in Canada. We all have banking options (so far) and we have long memories. We will never forget those who chose not to treat us fairly and with respect.

I have cc’d this letter to Finance Minister Flaherty and to others and will be hand delivering a copy to my local MP Mr. Bernard Trottier.

Sincerely,

[Name disclosed on letter]

Cc: Honourable Jim Flaherty, Minister of Finance
Honourable Bernard Trottier, MP Etobicoke-Lakeshore
Honourable Scott Brison, Finance Critic
[ ] Senior Manager, Customer Experience Strategy
Selected US persons abroad

Dec 20 UPDATE:

I closed my TD Bank account in response to TD Bank’s unacceptable response.

Dec 19 UPDATE:

—THE FINAL RESPONSE FROM TD BANK:

Dear IRSCF,

I am writing to you on behalf of the following TD departments: Legal, Corporate Communications and Public Affairs, and the Ombudsman’s Office in regards to your request to remove content from our website regarding FATCA.

We, TD Bank, acknowledge that you have made several requests to various TD departments seeking further information in regards to FATCA [??]. While the FATCA guidelines issued by the IRS will apply to all non-U.S. financial institutions around the world, the Canadian government is negotiating a bilateral agreement with the U.S. Once defined, all Canadian banks will be subject to the requirements resulting from this agreement.

The statements on our website accurately reflect the nature in which TD is responding to its legal obligation in order to comply with the Canadian legislation that will implement Canada’s bilateral agreement with the U.S. on FATCA. With regards to your objection about using “comfortable” in our website, we strive to provide a comfortable experience to our customers by ensuring that they always receive accurate and timely information with regards to FATCA [but see Badger’s comments below]. Nonetheless, we will take your feedback into account when we next refresh the FATCA content on our website.

We feel we have addressed your concerns to the best of our ability and we now consider the matter closed. For further correspondence regarding changes impacting the Canadian banking industry, we suggest you contact the Canadian Bankers Association (http://www.cba.ca/en).

Regards,

[ ….Customer Experience Strategy]

BE LEGENDARY! [text in green]

Every Customer. Every Time. Everyone [text in green].

Dec 18 UPDATE:

—TD Bank Ombudsman sends email stating that it will ensure that I receive a response from the bank.

Dec 12 UPDATE:

—As ten days have passed without any decision by TD Bank to my request for deletion of the offensive sentence on its website, I have forwarded the Dec 2 letter and all email correspondence to the TD Ombudsman for resolution (Step 3).

Dec 7 UPDATE:

—the letter of concern has now been escalated to some unknown component of TD Bank.

Dec 3 UPDATE:

—The complaint has been received by TD Bank.

THE ORIGINAL POSTING:

TD Bank has issued a statement on its website committing the bank to provide customers impacted by FATCA with “support and information” to ensure that they somehow will receive a “comfortable” experience while the bank is helping the US impose this law.

This statement is offensive and the letter below asks TD Bank to delete the statement from its public website and to apologize to its customers:

[SENT BY HARD COPY AND POSTED ONLINE AT ISAACBROCKSOCIETY.CA AND MAPLESANDBOX.CA]

December 2, 2013

Attn: Customer Service
Toronto-Dominion Centre
P.O Box 193
Toronto, ON
M5K 1H6

E-mail: customerservice@td.com

Dear Sir/Madam

Re: Request for deletion of offensive statement on TD Bank website

This is a request that TD Bank delete the second sentence in section #5 of your website: http://www.tdcanadatrust.com/customer-service/overview/fatca.jsp

The sentence reads: “TD is committed to providing impacted customers with support and information to ensure they receive a comfortable experience once the law comes into effect.”

The law referred to in this sentence is the U.S. imposed Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (FATCA) in which TD Bank will assist a branch of a foreign government, the U.S. Internal Revenue Service (IRS), in obtaining financial information on its customers in Canada.

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