I’m dreaming of a strong Canada
Just like the one I used to know

Where sovereignty glistens
And MPs listen
To hear us say “Tell FATCA No”
I’m dreaming of a strong Canada
With every letter I write
May your days be merry and bright
And may our FATCA lawsuit defend all our rights!

Merry Christmas from Blaze. Please donate for a strong Canada.

Wondering outllines why The Canadian anti FATCA lawsuit is the lawsuit to support.

The anti-FATCA lawsuit worth funding now is the Canadian claim advanced by Alliance for Defense of Canadian Sovereignty (ADCS). Here’s why:
– This is the only actual statement of claim against a FATCA IGA in the world. It has been duly filed in a Canadian Federal Court by expert counsel. It will advance.
– ADCS have retained Canada’s top Constitutional litigator and the resources of a major law firm.
– the Directors of ADCS are totally transparent; they are publicly known, and collectively have made numerous public statements and appearances in the press, on broadcast television, at public meetings, and in front of the Finance Committee. ADCS is also a properly incorporated non-profit corporation.
– the plaintiffs are publicly known and represent the most egregious examples of being harmed by FATCA due to incidental US birthplace.
– the suit has already been funded donations of almost $250K. So future donations are building on a foundation of strength.
– the ADCS suit is already being followed by the media, and we can expect a surge of publicity as the case moves forward.
– Canada is the battleground state for very concept of FATCA IGA’s. That is because of the vast number of Canadians who will be harmed by FATCA. Also, Canada is probably the world’s leader in so-called “illicit undeclared offshore accounts held by US-persons” – as defined by FATCA. Expect far more blowback, anger and awareness as Canadian banks and financial institutions roll out their FATCA programs.
– The success of the Canadian lawsuit against FATCA will enhance the credibility and possibility of success of the Bopp suit in the US.
– Finally, the US Republicans have access to Political Action Committee funding that Canadians can only dream of. So suggest that Canadian dollars focus on Canada’s homefront, to win in a Canadian court. Funding the entire Canadian AND US anti-FATCA suits is a rounding error for the Koch brothers’ various political action committees – if anyone has their contact info, maybe reach out to make the ask 🙂
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Political_activities_of_the_Koch_brothers
The timing is fortuitous as factors align in a perfect storm: Canadian lawsuit in Vancouver Federal Court + Harper Cons launch “do-or-die” election bid + Republican majority takes over Congress + increasing anger in Canada over “Buy American” laws + IRS hobbled with significant budget cuts (at the same time they must start to actively process and reciprocate FOR THE FIRST TIME with the rest of world’s FATCA input – much of which will likely be garbage data).
The warning: lawsuits move in slow motion – there are bursts of dramatic activity with months of waiting in-between. It is not like a labor strike, election or similar dramatic public action. A high court can take many months to issue a decision.

Over at ADCS, John Richardson thanks Wondering. So do I.
If you have not yet donated, Please Do So NOW at at stopfatca.ca for all of the above reasons. Plus, it`s just simply the right thing to do.

Elves: Make Blaze’s Christmas wish come true. Help Santa fill Ginny and Gwen’s stockings!

Hello Maple Sandboxers!
Special for the holidays I have created a Greedy Giver campaign to raise extra money from those who don’t feel that this issue is about them. This is for you Brockers to share with friends and family who feel that giving to this campaign “doesn’t get them anything”.
Well now it can and will for a short time. (Click above pic or below coupon to take you to the campaign).
Please share this far and wide via email, Twitter, Facebook and whatever other means you can think of.
An example of a coupon that can be purchased on Greedy Giver to fund our campaign:

NDP MP Guy Caron asked how much FATCA will cost CRA.

When the committee was studying the matter, the department wasn’t able to provide us with the costs of the agreement, for either the agency or the financial institutions. Do you now have that information, from the moment when the funding for implementation is released?

Here’s the answer from CRA:

The costs that we are working with for our ability to implement the obligations that we have to administer this agreement is funding of, I believe, $15.7 million or $15.8 million, which has been allocated to the CRA to implement this over these next few years.
Those costs are principally intended to support the costs of implementing a new electronic form for mandatory filing for financial institutions to be able to file their obligations to us, a database in which we would be able to receive and store that information, and the tools to give us the ability to select files from that database for subsequent transmission electronically to the Internal Revenue Service in order to comply with those obligations.

So there you have it folks. Over $15 million of our tax dollars to violate our fundamental rights as Canadians for foreign government demands. (Thanks to Badger for this great find and for sending it to me and the Board of ADCS.)
That, of course, does not include the $750 million that Canadian banks say FATCA is costing them.
Nor does it include the money the government will spend of our tax dollars fighting us in court while we struggle to raise the needed money for our lawsuit.
UPDATE: Since I posted, EmBee pointed out the folllowing;

Hope I’m not upsetting this apple cart but if you read further into the transcript of that meeting you find this:
Mr. Mike Allen (Tobique—Mactaquac, CPC):
Thank you very much, Mr. Chair.
Thank you to our witnesses for being here.
I want to follow up with a few questions with respect to the intergovernmental agreement and FATCA.
I think, Mr. Huppé, you talked about $2.4 million to implement the intergovernmental agreement with the U.S.
Then, Mr. Stewart, you talked about $15 million allocated over the next few years to enable the implementation of FATCA.
Just how do the $2.4 million and the $15 million work in the estimates?
Mr. Roch Huppé:
In the estimates process, the $2.4 million is what we’re seeking to bring in for 2014-15 expenses related to this. So yes, it’s included in that $15 million.
Mr. Mike Allen:
How many years do you figure it’s going to take to round this out? Will it be five years before you meet all the objectives?
Mr. Rick Stewart:
I have the number of years.
Let me clarify. If I said $15 million, I believe I misspoke. If I might be permitted to correct myself, it’s $5.8 million over the period 2014-15 to 2018-19.
Mr. Rick Stewart:
The bulk of those resource requirements are in 2014-15, because we’re setting up the front-end system to be able to receive and transmit the information. Then there are some smaller amounts on an ongoing basis in those outer years to manage the ongoing vetting and assure ourselves that the information is of good quality.
EditMore Options

Whether it is $15 million or whether it is $5 million, it is still OUR tax dollars being spent to violate our rights. This also does not provide any information on what will be required in staff resources which could be significant.

If we had any question about why TD is so anxious to betray long time Canadian customers for a foreign government, here is it.
I just received a Zoomer Promotion from TD directed at snowbirds heading south for the winter (no hint of the nasty surprise the IRS and FATCA may have in store for them!)
The promotion proudly boasts:

TD, America’s Most Convenient Bank

Note the American flag proudly flying over one of 1300 U.S. TD branches. Enough said.

 
NB: CALLING ALL EU BROCKERS
I am looking for known contacts in Budapest, Bratislava, South Tyrol, Burgenland & Vienna. Interested in local information only. Complete confidentiality assured. If you know someone, please email me at nobledreamer16 at gmail dot com

TORONTO Saturday, February 14, 2015
9:00-11:00 am -$20.00    &   12:00-6:00pm – N/C
100 St. Joseph St., Carr Hall Room 105, Toronto MAP
 
 
LONDON UK Monday, March 2, 2015
18:30 – 20:30 (GMT), £15
 
University of London – International Hall Meeting Room
Lansdowne Terrace, London MAP
 
PARIS FRA Details TBA
 
INNSBRUCK AUT Friday, March 6, 2015
5:00 – 8:00 pm € 15
HTL Trenkwaldstrasse, Aktsaal W214, 2. Stock Werkstatttrakt
Trenkwaldstrasse 2, A-6020 Innsbruck MAP
 
VIENNA AUT Saturday, March 7, 2015
2:00 – 5:00 pm (CET), €15
Kolpinghaus Wien Zentral, Raum Festing
Gumpendorfer Strasse 39, A-1060 Vienna MAP
 
BUDAPEST HUN Monday, March 9, 2015
2:00 – 5:00 pm (CET) – Ft 4500
Buddha Bar Hotel, Zen-Karma Meeting Rooms
Váci utca 34, H-1052 Budapest MAP
 
HAMILTON Thursday, March 26, 2015
6:30 – 8:30 pm – $20.00
McMaster Innovation Park, 175 Longwood Road S., Suite 105
Hamilton, ON L8P 0A1 MAP
 
LONDON ON April 22, 2015 Details TBA
Have you received a FATCA letter or been warned of the consequences of being a U.S. person?
 
Why am I getting letters from my bank all of a sudden?
The “FATCA Hunt” – the hunt for U.S. persons (whatever that is) began on July 1, 2014 which was “Canada Day”. Although both the definition of “U.S. person” and whether one meets the definition is not always clear, the search has begun. The level of FATCA awareness has begun. Some organizations are actively warning people that “U.S. Personness” matters. The purpose of the warning is presumably to encourage people to ”come clean” and deal with their U.S. tax situations. In some cases, there is no particular warning – just a letter indicating that they are suspected to be a “U.S. person”. Often one must prove to the institution sending the letter that one is not a U.S. person.
Continue reading 2015 "Solving US Citizenship Problems" – "Have You Received a FATCA Letter?" →

I today received via e-mail a letter from Joe Oliver in response to letters I wrote to Jim Flaherty on behalf of Maple Sandbox a year ago.
One was the letter Do All Canadians have the Same Rights sent to Jim Flaherty on November 25, 2013 by Maple Sandbox and Isaac Brock Society. We did not receive a reply until today, but we got our answer in February when the IGA was announced and again in June when the Cons passed the enabling Act.
The other was my Christmas wish list letter. We didn’t get our Christmas wishes last year and we all know what we’re getting this year from our Grinch government and our Scrooge banks.
The betrayal, letter and delay speak for themselves.
It seems they are going out in a mass e-mail. I had an e-mail from someone today whose friend received one and a very irate telephone call from someone else who received a letter from his Con MP.
He was so enraged he was planning another donation to ADCs. I urge others will express their rage the exact same way.