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Letter to Ministers Flaherty and Baird urging them to defend Canadian-US citizens being pursued by the IRS

October 14, 2011 Open Letters to Ministers & Public Officials

Honourable Jim Flaherty, P.C., M.P.
Minister of Finance
House of Commons
Ottawa, ON
K1A 0A6

Honourable John Baird, P.C., M.P.
Minister of Foreign Affairs
House of Commons
Ottawa, ON
K1A 0A6

Dear Ministers:

RE: United States Internal Revenue Service; Enforcement Policy against Dual Canadian-US Citizens

As you are aware, the United States Internal Revenue Services is pursuing a series of measures aimed at addressing tax evasion and the use of offshore accounts to shield assets from US taxation. As you are further aware, these measures have been directed at Canadian citizens who are residents of Canada holding US citizenship in a most punitive, unfair, and unacceptable manner. These measures include the imposition of onerous filing and reporting requirements, unreasonable penalties (even in the absence of any taxes owed) and privacy-violating disclosure obligations.

Our riding offices have received calls and letters on almost a daily basis from constituents who are dual citizens. They are justifiably concerned with, and upset at, the prospect of disclosing their confidential banking information to an agency of a foreign government, particularly when they have no earnings there. In many cases these accounts are held jointly with Canadian-born spouses who are forced to disclose their information to the IRS. All are fearful of heavy penalties on their families’ savings in Canada for non-compliance with US tax laws they did not know were relevant.

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Report Back from Montebello

August 22, 2007
Rabble.ca
Report Back from MontebelloProtests like the one at Montebello are essential to a healthy democracy. Bush, Harper and their cronies should think twice before assuming they will get away with fooling the people.
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The Conservative Party and the Sell-out of Canadian Space Technology

March 13, 2008 Question Period

Ms. Libby Davies (Vancouver East, NDP): Mr. Speaker, Emanuel Montenegrino is the Prime Minister's lawyer. He is also now registered to lobby the Conservatives to approve the sale of RADARSAT technology to an American weapons maker.

Considering Mr. Montenegrino’s regular contributions to the Prime Minister’s Conservative campaigns, would the government not want to keep its promise of openness and accountability and tell the Prime Minister’s counsel to stick to practising law and not political lobbying?

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On the Sale of MacDonald Dettwiler and Associates to an American Arms Company

February 13, 2008 Statements in the House of Parliament

Ms. Libby Davies (Vancouver East, NDP): - Mr. Speaker, the proposed sale of MacDonald Dettwiler, MDA, to the American armaments giant ATK undermines Canadian sovereignty and must be stopped.

The sale of MDA is an unacceptable transfer of publicly funded technology to a private U.S. military contractor. Canadians invested over $400 million in RADARSAT-2 with the promise of priority access to the satellite in cases of emergency, such as oil spills and suspect vessels entering Canada's north.

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Trade Agreements and Worker's Rights

January 28, 2008 Statements in the House of Parliament

Ms. Libby Davies (Vancouver East, NDP): - There is so much deep concern in the community about what that agreement [the SPP] will do and the fact that the government, as the previous government did, is signing on to this agreement with virtually no public disclosure. It will impact every aspect of domestic life in Canada. It will impact on the ability of Parliament to do its job. It will impact on the delivery of services. It will exacerbate the privatization of services. It will exacerbate the deregulation that is taking place in our society. At the end of the day these are things that begin to affect the quality of life. It becomes a race to the bottom.

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Stop Outsourcing BC Jobs: NDP Demands to Keep Canadian Jobs in Canada

March 27, 2007 Press Release

OTTAWA - Air Canada recently purchased an aviation maintenance facility in El Salvador that specializes in Airbus and Boeing aircrafts. Three weeks ago, the company announced major layoffs of more than 700 highly qualified aviation maintenance personnel in Vancouver. Further layoffs are expected to be announced in Winnipeg and Montreal. The virtual shut-down of these high quality maintenance facilities means that Canadian expertise built up over decades will be lost.

“This is just another sign of the Harper government’s refusal to take action for Canadian jobs. We have seen it in sector after sector. All of the substantial aviation maintenance expertise in Vancouver will be lost," said NDP Transport Critic Peter Julian (Burnaby-New Westminster).

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NDP to Cannon: Air Safety Must Come First

May 18, 2006 Press Release

OTTAWA - - Federal NDP MPs are holding press conferences in Ottawa, Toronto, Halifax and Vancouver today to decry the federal Conservative government's move to reduce passenger safety by cutting the number of flight attendants required on Canadian planes. Lobbyists from the airlines have been pushing for these cutbacks.

"This is a clear reduction in safety standards," said NDP Transport Critic Peter Julian (Burnaby-New Westminster). "The NDP is opposed to lessening Canadian air safety standards to conform to weaker American ones."

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