March 8, 2016 UPDATE: Legal fees paid — on to Federal Court for Charter trial contesting Canadian FATCA IGA legislation.
Canadians and International Supporters:
You came through once again: $594,970 for legal costs have now been donated and our outstanding legal bill is finally paid off.
Thanks especially to those who donated even though they never had any “spare” money to give, and despite this gave over and over and over again.
This last round of fundraising also shows that our Canadian lawsuit remains dependent on the kindness of our International Friends: There would be no lawsuit without their financial help.
Know that a very generous donation (today) from a supporter in the United States made it possible to pay off the remaining legal debt. Also please appreciate that there would be no lawsuit without the help of the Isaac Brock Society which has kindly let us use its website to solicit funds.
Our next step is the Constitutional-Charter trial in Federal Court.
For this we need more Canadian Witnesses, and my next post will be devoted only to a request for Witnesses willing to go public, like our Plaintiffs Ginny and Gwen.
For the future: I want a win in Federal Court — and I want the new Liberal Government not to appeal that win.
Thank you all for your support,
Stephen Kish,
for the Directors,
Alliance for the Defence of Canadian Sovereignty
On CBC radio’s “The House” this morning, Minister (Immigration, Refugees & Citizenship) John McCallum stated the new Liberal government’s firm resolve to put an end to Bill C-24.
He said that “we are totally utterly opposed to two classes of citizenship”. He was asked about a court challenge on C-24 and replied that the gov. is not waiting for a court challenge; the gov. believes that C-24 is wrong and would agree with a court challenge.
If the new Minister of Justice & Attorney General Jody Wilson-Raybould agrees with the ADCS Charter challenge what are the subsequent options in legal procedure? Even if the Justice Dept. chose to no longer contest the lawsuit, would it not still take Parliament to repeal or amend the FATCA-IGA enabling legislation in C-31?
In the interview John McCallum implied that the new gov. will repeal C-24 (he said “revoke”) and amend C-51.
I would like to write Minister Wilson-Raybould a letter but I will wait until the communication between the Arvay team and the Justice Dept. lawyers is made public.
Let’s hope the new PM doesn’t ask McCallum for advice on FATCA. I believe he was a big wig at the Royal Bank before politics. More sympathetic (I hope) will be Goodale, Brison, Garneau and maybe the new Finance Minister. Rookie MPs might be inclined to listen too, to show they’re serving the people who put them there.
McCallum has disavowed his past employment at Royal Bank. I will try to find a link.
https://openparliament.ca/politicians/john-mccallum/?page=75
Mr. Speaker, allowing that to happen reminds me of what Mr. Chrétien used to say, “If my grandmother was a bus”. We can have all sorts of hypotheticals.
I guess the NDP would like to claim credit for turning down the bank mergers, but I would like to remind the hon. member that it was not an NDP government at the time in Ottawa but it was a Liberal government under Jean Chrétien that turned down the bank mergers.
I do not mind doing a bit of a mea culpa because 10 years ago I worked for one of those wannabe merged banks. I remember the attitude at the time. We wanted to kick butt. We wanted to grow up to be like City Bank, and we have seen what happened to City Bank.
The Liberal government did the right thing. It was not an NDP government that said no to bank mergers. It was a Liberal government that retained a solid regulation and resisted the trends that we saw south of the border for increasing deregulation of the whole financial system. It was for those reasons. The member can thank a previous Liberal government for the Canadian banking system remaining sound.
Interesting Development:
As a result of the efforts of Advs. Marc Zell and Noam Schreiber testifying on behalf of Republicans Overseas Israel/Republicans Abroad Israel the other week before the Knesset Finance Committee, the attempt by the Israel Tax Authority to implement FATCA’s automatic data transfer and mass privacy waiver provisions has been thwarted.
The proposed legislation will not deal with FATCA implementation when it goes up for a vote by the Knesset Plenum in the next few days. The Finance Committee accepted our argument that FATCA-related legislation should not be passed piecemeal, but should be reviewed in a systematic fashion when legislation now being drafted by the Ministry of Justice is formally introduced. This means that the US-Israeli taxpaying public will have an opportunity to present its manifold objections to FATCA to the Finance Committee sometime next year.
The Finance Committee’s decision to amend the Tax Authority’s bill reflects a serious concern about protecting citizens’ rights’ of privacy in personal data. Finance Committee Chairman, MK Rabbi Moshe Gafni, stated that “the members of the Finance Committee are zealous about the wholesale transfer of Israelis’ private financial information abroad. We are different from the rest of the world. We are very sensitive about this matter, because we are concerned that foreign tax authorities may be seeking this information for improper purposes.”
For further information, please contact the undersigned.
L. Marc Zell, Adv.
ZELL, ARON & CO.
Jerusalem Office
34 Ben Yehuda Street
City Tower Building
15th Floor
Jerusalem 9423001 ISRAEL
Tel.: +972-2-633-6300 Fax: +972-2-672-1767
@Charl
Yeah ! Well done Advs. Marc Zell and Noam Schreiber !
Well done – Kol HaKavod! Wondering if this will be mentioned in the local press here in Israel.
Charl,
Marc Zell is also one of the plaintiffs in the Republicans Overseas FATCA/FBAR lawsuit.
My understanding is that Israel has signed a FATCA IGA with the United States, but that there is as yet no enabling legislation. Mr. Zell wants to ensure that any “enabling” legislation does not violate the rights of Israeli citizens.
I have met Marc on several occasions. Every country should have a Marc Zell.
To use the US dollar with all its terms and conditions attached (sanctions, fines and FATCA), is pushing Swiss banks into China.
https://uk.finance.yahoo.com/video/julius-baers-push-china-165206238.html
Future: in Switzerland open an account in Chinese RMB under old Swiss secrecy? The Chinese have to incentive to put into place a Chinese FATCA law until the RMB becomes a real dollar alternative which will be years into the future.
FATCA is pushing the West’s financial infrastructure straight into the non-dollar world.
The Swiss, the French and others won’t forget about Washington’s big fines on their banks.
I agree with EmBee — there is something about *the chances you miss when you don’t even try*.
We have this limited opportunity to remind the new government of what their members had to say about extra-territorial FATCA and about the rights of Canadians. We have an opportunity to see if *A Canadian is a Canadian is a Canadian* means something or were just pretty words in an election campaign. Why would we not take that opportunity – each of us? I could not live with myself if I didn’t try for closure for my family and all other families.
I choose to stay as positive as I can in communicating with a new government. I don’t know what the outcome will be, but I want to be among those here who at least did try. I just don’t want to roll over and be subjugated to US-led policies such as FATCA and TPP (http://www.cbc.ca/news/business/jim-balsillie-tpp-1.3310179 *) — as naïve or as old and set in my ways as I realize I am.
More theft from other countries, including Canada.
*From one concerned, as I, commenter:
Tim says
November 7, 2015 at 11:58 pm
“McCallum has disavowed his past employment at Royal Bank. I will try to find a link.”
He disavowed merger not his past employment. Canadian Bank decided to invest in foreign countries mainly USA which mad them more beholden to USA.
Canadian Bank & Credit Union would be devastated with housing bubble in Canada.
“A return to the median rate of 7.46 per cent would be a shock to most households and a generation or two of mortgage holders, since the last time Canada saw mortgages in the 7 per cent range was May 2002, more than 13 years ago. Such a rate would add hundreds of dollars a month to the cost of a mortgage. “If you were to get a two per cent increase in mortgage rates tomorrow morning, you would have a housing crisis,” BMO’s Kavcic says. However, he adds, “I don¹t think we will get that big of an increase in mortgage rates and certainly not over that short of a time period.”
http://business.financialpost.com/news/economy/canadas-ever-growing-housing-bubble-as-albertas-market-tumbles-the-rest-of-the-country-wonders-whos-next
But in the latest edition of its survey, The Economist found house prices are 89-per-cent overvalued in Canada when compared to rents, the largest overvaluation among the 26 housing markets measured. That’s up from 73 per cent two years ago.
http://www.huffingtonpost.ca/2015/04/20/canada-housing-overvalued-the-economist_n_7102338.html
Increasing government deficit will accelerate the housing bubble problem as it will lead to higher interest rate. I am seeing bond prices are going down since election which is indicative of higher long term interest rates.
@Calgary411
We have this limited opportunity to remind the new government of what their members had to say about extra-territorial FATCA and about the rights of Canadians. We have an opportunity to see if *A Canadian is a Canadian is a Canadian* means something or were just pretty words in an election campaign. Why would we not take that opportunity – each of us? I could not live with myself if I didn’t try for closure for my family and all other families.
I choose to stay as positive as I can in communicating with a new government. I don’t know what the outcome will be, but I want to be among those here who at least did try. I just don’t want to roll over and be subjugated to US-led policies such as FATCA and TPP
Absolutely!!
@Calgary 411
Well said and thank you and others for your constant support. To those who are doing what Gwen and I can’t right now, thank you for the letter writing campaign. I have a kazillion letters written in my mind that I cannot send.
The Liberals have a lot to contend with on their agenda. We need to remind them that we are also very important and deserving of their support.
FATCA/IGA can be amended with one simple sentence. It is actually so very simple! Uphold our Charter Rights as you propose to do for others. Do NOT leave us out. Mr. Prime Minister, Gwen and I and the people we represent are all as equal Canadians as you are. Do NOT ‘disappear’ us.
@Ginny:
“FATCA can be amended with one simple sentence”
So right! And , we will never give up, Ginny! Gwen!
“You may never know what results come of your actions, but if you do nothing, there will be no results.”
M. Gandhi
I do not regret all the time and effort spent appealing to the Conservatives in 2014, even though it all fell on deaf intolerant ears. We must give the new Liberal govt. the benefit of the doubt and make a maximum effort now.
Ginny, I agree with you that it is more realistic to appeal for an amendment to exclude Canadian citizens & PR’s who are resident in Canada from the FATCA IGA definition of a US Person. The influence of the banks on the govt. is powerful and this keeps them protected from the 30% penalty (which they seem terrified of). Scott Brison should be continually reminded that he voted for this amendment.
A repeal of the C-31 enabling legislation leaves the banks unprotected and seems to me to be a more unrealistic goal (even though ideally I would like to see this).
@ Mr. A and @ Furious Canadian
Thank you for your comments. Sometime, the simplest solutions are overlooked. Things can get complicated, and they certainly are in our case. But in my opinion, for what it’s worth, this remedy keeps staring me in the face. It’s a win/win for all. Now to convince the politicians: keep those letters going.
I intend to sit at the front of the bus, with all of you. And that will be a glorious day. And a packed bus I expect. See you there. Let’s buy our tickets now and get on board. Native Canadian will no doubt be driving it, and the rest of us wearing his t-shirts and waving Canadian flags. Wouldn’t it be nice if this could happen by July 01,2015?
@Mr. A and @ Furious Canadian @Ginny
Yes! Amending the IGA to exclude residents of Canada is *far* more likely to happen than anything else. Yet the recent ADCS letter to PM Trudeau asked for “repealing the enabling legislation for the IGA entered into under threat of economic sanctions”. I was at the time, and still am, puzzled why the ADCS letter didn’t specifically ask for this exclusion that would have solved the major problem, rather than asking for something that IMO was very unlikely to happen.
For good measure, it could have been mentioned that the US has no requirement or intention of divulging the banking info of US residents.
And before someone chirps in that Canada has no need to get the banking info of US resident Canadians because Canada has RBT, note that in order to be free of Canadian taxation a Canadian expat must explicitly sever ties with Canada and pay all outstanding capital gains taxes (akin to, but more sensible than, the exit tax). So, said banking info could be useful in determining whether someone has moved out of the country, ceased paying income tax, but did not sever ties and pay up on outstanding capital gains.
@ tdott
I included in my letters complete repeal “… or at the very least amended to exempt all FATCA-affected Canadian citizens and permanent residents who are living in Canada.” Now I’m trying to think who it was who slipped that into my head. Thank you, whoever. Was it you?
This is the Liberals chance to do exactly what the Conservative government could have done. Just do it — and let’s get on that bus with NativeCanadian’s tee-shirts, get on with our Canadian lives, just like every other Canadian who is supposed to be *A Canadian is a Canadian is a Canadian* and put our energy toward many other things more useful to Canadian society.
And, no disappearing!!
Just read the Arvay letter. Excellent! Used a lot of the same quotes that we used in our letters to the PM and MP’s. The Liberals can’t claim ignorance on this issue. Their criticisms and recommendations are well documented. They either follow through, or they throw us under the bus. Let’s pray that their response is a positive one.
By the way,
Thanks very much to Blaze and others for finding the Liberal pre-election quotes that were passed on to Mr. Arvay — and which he used in “our” letter to the Crown counsels.
Marie,
Right: Not possible now for the Liberals to claim any ignorance on this issue,
An additional possibility one might want to consider is trying to get Elizabeth May or Murray Rankin to introduce a private members bill to repeal all the FATCA related sections of the Income Tax Act. If such a bill was introduced soon after the opening of Parliament it is quite likely it would be heard prior to September 30, 2016.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/eureferendum/11985483/EU-referendum-David-Cameron-sets-out-his-demands-to-Europe-live.html
Europe is against David Cameron’s reforms because they create ‘two types’ of EU citizen. What on earth does FATCA do? One gets reported to the US government, the person next to you doesn’t.
Should we be communicating with this gentleman at the UN …. our complaint to that body …..
“UN privacy head slams ‘worse than scary’ UK surveillance bill And calls father of the internet Vint Cerf dumb”
” …. special rapporteur on privacy Joe Cannataci referred to the Investigatory Powers Bill as the “Snooper’s Charter” and accused the UK government of an orchestrated campaign to get hold of new mass surveillance powers that the evidence shows will not prevent terrorism.”
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2015/11/10/un_privacy_head_slams_uk_surveillance_bill/