I just received this message from Murray Rankin:
Hello Lynne,
I just wanted to give you a summary of the our ongoing efforts to persuade the Conservative government to remove the U.S. Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (FATCA) implementation agreement from the budget so it can be adequately studied and fixed.
The Conservatives buried this agreement in Bill C-31, the omnibus budget implementation bill, making it difficult for MPs to give a proper review to specific sections. New Democrats have repeatedly called for this deeply flawed agreement to be pulled out of the budget [http://www.ndp.ca/news/conservatives-must-remove-fatca-budget-bill] so that it may be properly amended and studied, but the Conservatives have refused.
At the Standing Committee on Finance, in my capacity as NDP National Revenue Critic, I moved several amendments to sections on FATCA in attempt the help protect the privacy rights of Canadians and ensure the agreement does not violate constitutional laws.
NDP Finance Critic Nathan Cullen joined me in pushing for these amendments. You can watch our work in Committee here: http://politwitter.ca/page/videos/id/39600
Unfortunately, the Conservative majority voted to reject all of our amendments at committee.
New Democrats also fought very hard to have all sections of pertaining to FATCA deleted from Bill C-31 at report stage in the House of Commons. Unfortunately, the Conservatives refused to listen to reason, and rejected our call to reconsider the rushed implementation of the FATCA implementation agreement.
While we regret this outcome, please know that you can continue to count on the NDP to protect your rights. New Democrats will be voting against the entire bill at third reading.
It is reckless to rush this through Parliament without the safeguards needed to protect our constitutional and privacy rights. More than a million Canadians with U.S. dual citizenship could be caught up in this net.
New Democrats have launched a petition calling on the Government of Canada to reconsider its attempt to implement FATCA in Canada and work to ensure that privacy rights of all Canadians are protected. Please feel free to share the petition: http://petition.ndp.ca/FATCA
Please know that the NDP will continue to stand up for all of those whom are caught up in the FATCA net.
Sincerely,
Murray Rankin
NDP Member of Parliament for Victoria
Official Opposition Critic for National Revenue
Did anyone else receive a similar message? I find it so bizarre that MPs more than 4500 kilometers from me (Rankin, Cullen, May, Atamarenko) and one MP 2000 kilometers from me (Brison) are more responsive to me than my own MP.
The only thing Con Ed Holder has done is send me an information sheet reminding me to file FBARs (even though I was very clear that I was NOT a U.S. citizen.) In 2012, I was still naive. I thought elected MPs would protect their constituents from foreign demands that violated Canadian laws. That was before I learned “Congress has spoken” for Canada’s Parliament.
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