The first time I met Jim Flaherty it was during a snowstorm, in a Scarborough hotel, just days after he’d been appointed the federal minister of finance in the winter of 2006. We snared a table in the restaurant and ordered breakfast. For a few minutes we small-talked, watching children launch into the bilious-looking pool below. Everything – air, napkins, waitresses – smelled like chlorine.
I was surprised at two things. Jim ate his breakfast, including bacon and eggs, with his fingers. Second, he asked me for pointers on how he should carry out his new job. Interesting, since I was sitting with a guy who’d been Ontario’s treasurer, a politician for ages, and would soon be the second in command of Canada.
As you might imagine, I was a font of wisdom.
Flipping on my Berry, I asked him to do a podcast with me. Sure, he said. Here’s the unedited interview from February 25, 2006:
INTERVIEW RECORDING
Months later our relationship went totally off the rails. As he prepared his first budget I canvassed the country through my political blog and other media, filtered thousands of responses, and in front of reporters presented him with a dozen proposals, including pension-splitting and creation of the TFSA. Big mistake. The minister didn’t want any suggestions. Or public input. Or anything to do with a blogging MP. I could scarcely believe the change.
The passing months hardened attitudes. The prime minister warned me to behave, which meant ceasing to write online; stop talking to people across the country; and no more putting constituents above party. He accused me of being a ‘media star’, and as we sat face-to-face in his office one evening he said: “Journalists make lousy politicians because they think they always need to tell the truth.” Things were not going well.
Soon after, in a closed-door caucus meeting, the PMO orchestrated my ouster. Before that happened, F stood, took to the microphone, looked squarely at me and said, “Garth Turner needs to know he is not leading an alternative government.” And in a few minutes that was quite clear. I was out on my ass.
I mention this in the spirit of full disclosure. Jim Flaherty and I have had our moments. Today, after eight years, he quit. Why would he do that?
One answer might have come during a speech two hours earlier by Stephen Poloz, the boss of the Bank of Canada. It was dismal enough to send the dollar careening lower to the 89-cent level, and flash an alert to trading desks across the nation. “The possibility of secular stagnation needs to be taken seriously,” he said. Stagnation? When the US economy is weeding higher?
And then this report: “Poloz said a combination of low demand and investment, and high savings that have been directed to less productive uses such as housing, may keep growth well below normal levels over a long period and mean low interest rates could prove to be less stimulative than in the past.”
So, six years into ‘Canada’s Economic Action Plan’ we have the possibility of deflation, a dollar which has plunged, no new net job creation for six months, record household debt, economic stagnation and a housing market which cheap rates have turned into an income-sucking gasbag.
And now Poloz has been forced to utter more words of defeat. When asked if he rules out the possibility of having to cut rates further, even though it will create more debt and ultimately more trouble, he said: “If the balance of risks were to shift so that the risks on the downside for inflation were increased, then we would need to reconsider.”
Needless to say, a rate cut would be the ultimate admission the minister of finance failed. Comatose economic growth. Lost jobs. The spectre of deflation. And yet a population sucked into unholy gobs of indebtedness as they use in-the-ditch mortgages to speculate in leveraged real estate. The latter was encouraged, of course, by F’s greatest misstep – giving us 40-year insured mortgages and zero-down financing even as the US housing market imploded.
Today the federal debt is $685 billion. It was $549 billion when Jim and I we ate eggs. He says the budget will be balanced soon, but years of fat deficits have taken a toll. Now, if the Bank of Canada’s right, we may need more stimulus to get out of a new screwup.
Without a doubt, the prime minister knows he needs a reboot. Twenty months remain before the next federal election, and it’s time to bury a strategy that cost the country $140 billion yet no longer works. If the deflation monster isn’t offed soon, there’ll be one mess of angry homeowners in the autumn of 2015. Then again, it’s probably too late.
Farewell, elfin deity. At least one of us is still around to lead the country.
NOTE: thanks to the vigilance of my Webmaster, William Stratas, the audio file above was retrieved tonight from his archives. It was originally broadcast in 2006 on Odeo.com, the precursor of Twitter.
267 comments ↓
:)
I am actually surprised how long it took for Garth to post the news.
Still in Ottawa for now,
F
So Garth, no rate decrease (at least for now), but would you agree that it will take longer before they increase the rates? After all, this is the most powerful tool they can use and unfortunately there is not much room to the downside when the rate is at 1% level.
DELETED
So long. Farewell. Hope to never see you again!
I can understand eating bacon with your hands…but the eggs too?
This is the best news I’ve heard since TFC signed Dafoe, Bradley and Julio Cesar
Bravo Garth!
con’t from previous…
163 Vangrrl on 03.18.14 at 4:23 pm
#112:
When a tenant forks over X amt of dollars for that rented space, THEY are the boss of that space.
——————————-
sure, within the RULES laid down by the OWNER of said space.
if you want to remove walls/get 3 dogs/grow weed(without sharing)/host band practice/add roomates/redecorate/install a fireplace/breed ferrets/smoke cigarettes/etc. – then you need permission from the boss. the real boss, the owner. who can toss you out for no reason at any time in BC if the apt is part of the owners dwelling.
……………….
They respect it and take care of it
———————————
and if they don’t who gets to deal with it? right, the boss.
Sounds like I lucked out.
————————————
i’m sure my renter feels the same – he and his big dog have proven to be very responsible, i will accommodate him any way possible, within reason, as a good, happy tenant is the ultimate goal.
Jim Flaherty …sure knows when it’s time to jump the ship. No he can enjoy his connection while working in private sector…getting a pay off for the policies he kept alive and well.
Getting out before TSHTF! If you ask me…
BTW…..The one before second!
First to post, last to buy housing in this squalor!
That was just crude, lol
Nightmare scenario, Tony Clement….
He found the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow.
Can’t say as I will miss him. Income Trust debacle, tax the wealthy . Acts like a liberal in Conservative clothing.
Well…The one thing i know…you are both worthy of being Canadians and both have balls to share your opinions…I love you both ;)
It’s about time. Garth = the Tortoise
Benches are pretty thin. Not many finance candidates for sure. Maybe Kenny.
In a situation like this is it possible for anyone to win? Even if we get to the point where we are not piling on new debt, we still owe a lot of money and have a lot of expenses coming due.
Why is everyone so worried about deflation?
No-one likes lower prices?
It is starting.
The rats leave the sinking ship.
Gotta like F and Carney’s exit strategies. Jump ship and let someone else clean up their mess.
” At least one of us is still around to lead the country.”
—————————-
do you really think anything F has done is leadership?
F has only ever toed the line – this is not leader-anything
your daily efforts to inform are true leadership. thanks.
The deflationary pressures of the broader economy have caught up to us [the average consumer].
The best plan now is to eliminate all the debt that you can.
I don’t wanna know where those hands have been…
Give the Finance Job to Ireland’s Finance Minister
Ireland’s minister of Finance was in Canada yesterday to promot Ireland on St. Patrick’s day.
He was interviewed on CBC by Amanda Lang.
He struck me as very smart. Had figures of Irland’s industry in his head. He had a great understanding of banking. had a clear view of Ireland as an English speaking gateway to the Eurozone.
Don’t let him leave the country, we need him.
How exactly low interest rate will help. Will I get car at -1% or business will invest because interest rate was high and its going to go down.
You win Garth, F is no longer finance minister, but you’re still a media star!
Seriously though, he ate with his hands? In Public?
Mr. Turner, what time duration are we looking at when they talk about “secular stagnation”?
Amanda Lang guessed he was going
Amanda intervied F about a month ago. He struck me as a very decent guy in that interview.
Amanda said, something like, “You sound like a guy who has done his last budget.” She sensed it.
He knew he was going ans he became out-spoken against income splitting. His time was up… Once you cross the PM you’re gone.
If you strike a King, you must strike to kill (or at least run like hell after you strike).
Somehow the phrase ‘F-You’ seems appropriate as Mr Flaherty rides off into the sunset. And is that a middle finger I spy on his upraised hand?…
Please please please cut interest rates. I’m heavily move my funds to USD.
A nice rate cut add more gov dollar printing means lower canadian dollar. Yeah.. Short canada while you still have a chance. Its a for sure thing!!!
Hi Garth,
My fellow “American persons” in Canada (aka Canadians) over at Isaacbrocksociety dot ca aren’t feeling the nostalgia for our former finance minister either. We’re in the process of being sold out to the IRS by the Cons with the so-called FATCA IGA So much for keeping the True North strong and free.
Keep up the strong work Garth!
So if you were the new Flaherty what would you do to fix things Garth?
*** FURSTTTT ***
More stimulus should be good for investors. I don’t own so i’m happy with that outcome. If home prices finally correct l can finally own. This is actaully a win/win for those who followed you.
Thanks Garth
Garth, you still seem bitter. It has been over 5 years since you got turfed on your ass. Let it go, for the benefit of everyone. I felt the same way over a couple of ex’s, but I moved on.
Garth, I think you are right on this one, but the media is taking a different spin, claiming that it is due to health and medication issues. And he is 64, so retirement doesn’t seem like that bizarre a proposition.
In any case, apparently investors are buying it. Canadian index up again today.
Enjoyed that little touch of schadenfreude Garth. F certainly deserves it, and your candid disclosure is appreciated.
The truth is that the era of F and Carney will soon be seen as only a partially mitigated financial disaster for Canada.
There’s little hope for the overleveraged who have bought into the RE illusion. And that, sadly, is at least 50% of the homeowner population right now.
cool. I hope the next one will do something with rates to put people on the ground.
It is really starting.
I am shorting Ca $ with every mean possible.
Both M.C. and F left, now it is the time for the SHTF
Getting pounded with articles on Canada’s hot awesome real estate market.
They’re gearing up for a busy spring. Looks like this will continue for a while longer.
I’m a Canadian miner, most of my family has been in the trade, WHY NOT JUNIOR GOLD STOCKS in the TFSA
come on Garth lets hear from you, where is the gold price headed, or can you not attack an industry that has been hit hard for three years and is still going strong, what ya say old chum.
Time to buy Gold miners?
Good Riddance.
I bet ya, Old Jim doesn’t have a healthy portfolio, my guess is his personal finances are a mess
#41 gmc
I put 10 % in GDXJ 3 months ago.
It is up 30 % so far.
How can you take guy a seriously that eats with his fingers…Did you shake hands on the way out, or nod?
What a bad governement:
– lowered the GST to encourage spending while reducing income for the ever expandind government expenditures.
– Lenghten the amortization of mortgages to artificialy expand the economy.
– Canadians are now full of debt and very little options to get out of difficulties.
– bad bad Conservative government that tried to over-control the people.
– F is quitting way too late and should be held accountable for his mistakes and give up his minister’s pension. He screwed up, pay up!
Garth it makes me sick to hear that our political leaders put party above constituents. That is ultimately what will be their downfall in 2015.
I can understand eating bacon with your fingers, but I would need to know how the eggs were ordered to greater access the level of F’s eating habits. Poached hard, or hard boiled can make some sense. Fried with hard yolk can be done if need be. Over easy, scrambled, shirred, sunny side up I think would be pretty gross if eaten with fingers.
I still have too many canadian dollars in my portfolio!
It’s all really come down to the realization that nothing of economic value exists anymore east of Manitoba. Central Canada now means the Calgary-Fort Mac corridor.
And as Flaherty has no membership in the Petroleum Club of either Calgary or Edmonton, his significance was dwindled.
Anyway, he’ll probably be landing in Diego Garcia in a few hours to pick up about 20 tons of Chinese gold.
#19 randman on 03.18.14 at 6:34 pm
—————————————–
Deflation is the reverse of inflation where rising prices and wages makes debt repayment easy peasy.
Canada is a nation of debtors…therefore inflation is our saviour, deflation is death.
Nice pic! I’m rolling on the floor, laughing!
I’m with Anna A…..WWGD?
Thank you to all who put their two cents in regarding my rental dilemma. I appreciate it!
I like how F retires, and Garth’s blog lights up right away…we know where to go for the inside scoop.
i’ll second the request …
scrambled, fried, or poached? but please god, don’t say eggs benny!
Canada should buy a house.
It would fix all its money problems.
How long until we hear: Jim who?
#47 DUI on Money Road on 03.18.14 at 7:06 pm
That was necessary to correct the present lopsided distribution of seats between north,western Canada and ontardio.
The self-serving squeaky wheels of the area between Detroit, Thunder Bay, and Quebec had to be kept contained for the benefit of the entire country. At least until ‘gun registration’ was finally flushed down the toilet.
‘Sides, over-accommodating mortgage rates and terms were what the people wanted. Now that they’re choking on all that candy they should be thankful.
If self-discipline is not your thing, your savings should be capped at $ 10K and any rest forfeited to a heavily communist government. No property for YOU.
Thanks for hanging in there, Garth! It’s finally paying off BIG TIME. So sorry for Canada, however. It’ll take years to dig out of the mess created by the ‘cons’…..
First Carney…now Flaherty. Jumping ship!
In Alberta Redford is getting her orders from the caucus, her leadership role is more as a follower. Redford can travel to Balzac and not further.
carney knew what he was doing and left Canada.
F pulled the plug.
Indicators to date are pointing toward things going to hell in a hell of a hurry.
Hi Garth
I just want you to know that people respect honesty. Well I do at least. I don’t understand why politicians think they need to portrait an imagine that seems perfect. I have yet to meet a perfect person.
I respect your honesty and I’ve put my money where my mouth is. That’s why I’m your client. Honesty builds trust. Too bad that there aren’t more honest people in politics. I’m no saying that politicians want to mislead or fail miserably at running this great country, but they are bound by the image they created to get elected in the first place. The fact remains that everyone makes mistakes the only difference is that politicians will continue making the same mistakes rather than admitting them.
“Farewell, elfin deity. At least one of us is still around to lead the country.”
*********************
These idiots were never ‘leaders’….
Now Harper stands alone!
Why can’t we go back to the days of old when a lynch mob stood outside the great castle walls to greet the shamed lord?
Sure, the shamed elite may have been promised a golden parachute, perhaps a nice tranquil cabin in the woods, but the fact of the matter is he never got there. . .
Anyways, the man always struck me as a pathetic court jester. “Look at me, I’ll make a housing bubble with zero down and 40 year mortgages. Now look at me, three years later I’m the hero who prevented the housing bubble by introducing 5% down and 35 years. Did I mention I’ll always threaten to raise interest rates only to lower them the next day?!” The nation is without a doubt financially illiterate – and Flaherty sure leads by example, but then again I can’t say I’m surprised.
Wow after 8 years he quits…. Sounds a lot like bev oda.
Another prime example of politicians working for the people.
#9 FTP – First Time Poster on 04.18.12 at 9:11 pm
Excellent post! I have read 3 different (non MSM) writeups recently regarding the impending fall of Canadian RE. I only have one question to ask Garth, what are you going to write about once you’re no longer contrarian and become mainstream?
Just watch me. — Garth
#11 wes coast on 05.15.12 at 9:12 pm
Garth, what the hell are you going to write about once the crash happens? The MSM will be crowding you out will their ‘revelations’ that indeed there was a bubble. You will seem almost ‘main stream’. I dread the thought.
Then I have fun. — Garth
cant get those 2 comments and reply out of my head since i red them.
I AM ALL EARS NOW!
Garth,
Any truth to the health issue as the reason for leaving?
Do you really believe the 40 yr, etc was Fs call (my bet would be it was a Harper call… after a phone call from Bay Street)?
Consider moving to Ukraine or Israel, get all the money and attention from “our” PM.
“Eggs with his fingers”…………..Rob Ford school of dining?
Another Rat leaving the sinking ship, Tubby next?
Gazebo Tony to the rescue………
Oh My
Perhaps if it was a boiled egg. That wouldn’t have been too bad.
F didn’t resign, he was shitcanned. He is the sacrificial goat .
‘Needless to say, a rate cut would be the ultimate admission the minister of finances has failed’
he was supposed to fail – that was the plan
all he had to do was set the traps and watch the hapless fall into them
this happened by design – this being the debt mess Canadians are in
a new person will be appointed to carry on – may as well be Big Bird or the cookie monster, so long as they can read and stand in for photos
#33 Anna A: “So if you were the new Flaherty what would you do to fix things Garth?”
******************
Your question is dumb. The ‘cons’ had their chance with Garth as Finance Minister…and they blew it.
#36 Cici: “….but the media is taking a different spin, claiming that it is due to health and medication issues….”
******************
What would you expect?
@ #9 Joe Average Vancouver “… Jim Flaherty …sure knows when it’s time to jump the ship. ”
He’s the second rat to bail, Carney is already plying the same magic elixir in Jolly Ol’. Given the windfall their destructive policies were for the financial sector it should make for an easy transition.
Looks like F jumped ship before she goes up on the rocks. Young Trudeau will get in so are you thinking about running again?
#45 Mikesinlangley: “How can you take guy a seriously that eats with his fingers…Did you shake hands on the way out, or nod?”
*****************
Maybe the restaurant provided a finger bowl for the stupid ass….
#68 TurnerNation on 03.18.14 at 7:42 pm
“Consider moving to Ukraine or Israel, get all the money and attention from “our” PM.”
You’re doing it in the wrong order.
We should exile the entire Conservative caucus to either Israel or Ukraine. After all, they’ve made it more than clear they love these two nations over their own.
#17 Raging Ranter — “Benches are pretty thin. Not many finance candidates for sure. Maybe Kenny.”
Kenney has no financial education or background in the private or public sector. And he’s to important as Harper’s Get out the Ethnic Vote guy to be spared.
Thin bench indeed. Flaherty was about the only minister of the crown who was halfway competent and not a blatant, frequent liar (there was the Hallowe’en Massacre of income trusts, but letting Bell and Telus stop paying taxes would have been a bridge too far…)
But the Globe reports that Sources say the next finance minister, who’s already been chosen, “will be somebody with impressive credentials and who’s very capable.” so maybe they’re going outside the front bench, or even outside of caucus. Not immediately announcing a successor could charitably be seen as an attempt to stretch the news cycle by a day or two (any day without an expense scandal as the top story is a good day), but it seems a bit bush league.
As I’ve been pointing out for years on this blog and elsewhere, rate decreases are very desperately needed in the Canadian economy. Housing has only done so well, relatively speaking, due to the CMHC subprime credit preference being accorded to the housing sector. Now that genie is out of the bottle, housing prices are falling, and there is little that the BoC can do other than lower rates and engage in QE to keep up with the debasement that has been occurring in the US over the past few years.
The big winners are likely to be Canadian equities, gold, and even government debt. The big losers include small businesses, real estate, and most in the business of supply to ‘consumers’. Brace yourselves accordingly, the next few years are not going to be pleasant for the overleveraged.
Any chance Steven might give you the nod?
#67 SRV on 03.18.14 at 7:42 pm
—————————————
Agree that is quite possible. F always said that he and H didn’t always see ‘I to I’ and in fact quite often disagreed.
Good Riddance!
Enjoy that six-figure pension for all the hard work you put in bending over for H and betting the Canadian economy on a housing ponzi scheme.
A complete hack.
” At least one of us is still around to lead the country.”
Awesome closer.
F resigned? Never saw that one due this fast. Signs of implosion maybe? Deflation with high debt is no fun.
If ever there was a sign to NOT buy Real Estate or, take on unnecessary debt this would be the time. Check the debt, check your job, and check your prospects.
I feel for those unemployed as prospects in Canada might smell like 2008 in the US (oil patch excepted…for now).
Where does this lead, Garth?
optimistically, i like to think that flaherty is (deep down) a semi-decent guy…who would rather bail out of the system than create/take part in more destructive policy agendas.
otherwise, he is simply a traitor to the well-being of his country, has fulfilled a useful corporate elite purpose, and will be rewarded (accordingly) through juicy, revolving-door, private-sector employment.
It’s very unfortunate for Canada to lose ‘the best finance minister ever’: Rob Ford on Flaherty resignation
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/news-video/video-its-very-unfortunate-for-canada-to-lose-the-best-finance-minister-ever-rob-ford-on-flaherty-resignation/article17556546/
hum…
…”getting fat by buying a larger belt.”
AN OPEN LETTER TO PRESIDENT ROOSEVELT
By John Maynard Keynes.
http://newdeal.feri.org/misc/keynes2.htm
============================
see The Impact of Leverage and De-leverage on Asset Price
Quantitative Easing is not Automatically A Keynesian Measure
http://henryckliu.com/page265.html
==========================
why did this rule change in the first place?
Monday,
June 21, 2004
Net Capital Requirements for Broker-Dealers That Are Part of Consolidated Supervised Entities;
Supervised Investment Bank Holding Companies; Final Rules
http://www.sec.gov/rules/final/34-49830.pdf
http://www.newyorkfed.org/research/staff_reports/sr548.pdf
The Canadian economy and banks sailed through the financial crisis in 2008 with no thanks to Flaherty or the Conservatives.
They were very lucky, taking the credit for all the work that Paul Martin did in the nineties to right Canada’s financial ship after Muldoon’s Conservative government almost destroyed the Canadian economy.
The Candain economy and banks sailed through the financial crisis in 2008 with no thanks to Falhery
Prince Clown resigns….he knows what’s coming down the pipe.
Have fun in retirement laughing at the credit/house pigs very soon.
He is also quite sick with an auto immune disease.
You can see the effects of the prednisone a steroid in his face it’s called the moon effect also by his weight gain.
He’s not in very good shape.
A condition also agitated by stress, I’m sure the economic outlook also isn’t helping.
It’s tough leaving a job and attributing it to health issues because it may deem you a liability down the road.
It’s a pride thing, I’ve been there.
Good luck Jim I hope you get things under control.
Garth,
I’ve never felt the need to ask you a question until now. What kind of eggs did F eat with his hands? Sunny side up? hard boiled? Did he construct a makeshift sandwich with toast? I cannot help but picture F as some sort of barbarian king trying to establish a form of masculine dominance with his rough table manners.
I think I like F.
He always seemed like a decent person, despite my disagreeing with a whole lotta sh*t that was done under him.
But let’s face it, he gets told what will be done – he doesn’t get to decide it. He gets to announce it and look pretty for the cameras.
But Canada is on its way to catching up to where the USA is in terms of the financial cycles. We still haven’t been kicked in the butt yet for amassing huge amounts of debt. Soon enough…
The problem, as I see it, is that we used the same tools the USA (and the world) have been using, but well in advance of the debt implosion that everybody else faced. We avoided the larger chaos that the world faced, but we didn’t clear the excess debt!
Now we really don’t have any tools left to manoever when the sh*t hits the fan as expected. All we have done is delayed it and made the problem grow bigger. Now what?
So when do we get to bail on this horrible Canadian economy?
I’d be getting out now while the gettings good too if I had a part in FATCA , the law that comes into effect July 1 further selling out Canada to the US.
MSM says his health and the fact that he balanced the budget was his reasons for stepping down, what is the whisper reason Garth?
I doubt the F-man will be missed. Can’t think where his talents could be useful… maybe the Senate?
Maybe he sees what some of those wealthy 1%er’s have been bettin’ on …look at this for example. Pathetic!
SEC Announces Charges Against Brokers, Adviser, and Others Involved in Variable Annuities Scheme to Profit From Terminally Ill FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
2014-50 Washington D.C., March 13, 2014
http://www.sec.gov/News/PressRelease/Detail/PressRelease/1370541121951
Today, after eight years, he quit. Why would he do that?
Garth may be Jim sees the writing on the wall and it is not good. If he can get out of the spot light long enough he might gain a pinch of plausible deniability in respect to what is about to happen. Call it quitting while he is ahead.
I think you are wrong on this… I was thinking of F, when I though full page add featuring TD offering 2.99% mortgages. Sometime later announcement came out. This is not a coincidence. F at least realized the danger of debt fueled housing bubble when he implemented borrowing restrictions. Give man a credit. I’m afraid 30 years mortgaged will be back soon, as sub 3% already are just in time for spring market.
I’m so nefarious…
http://youtu.be/vWIopUcHBOg
#BonusZen
http://tinyurl.com/jvshtck
“When you play the game of thrones, either you win or you die.” Cersei Lannister
Of course the fallout from F tenure will leave us with lasting effects affecting the vast majority of Canadians.
“The common people pray for rain, healthy children, and a summer that never ends. It is no matter to them if the high lords play their game of thrones, so long as they are left in peace. They never are.”Jorah Mormont
Hotel buffet scrambled eggs could be finger food. Not that they should be, but they could be.
But is it really surprising that the finance minister had his finger in the jam?
“Wow after 8 years he quits.”
He was finance minister in charge of Ontario’s long decline before going to Ottawa.
Suck eggs G. BTW I’m now in the T shirt biz:
http://rlv.zcache.com/no_one_cares_about_your_stupid_blog_tee_shirt-r537058b657d54028b70557a1bbc18894_vjfex_512.jpg
I wonder if george strombobomoupopolous will replace him?
#42 Ryan on 03.18.14 at 6:58 pm
Good Riddance.
……………..
And the current govt. in 2015.
Enjoy the schadenfreude Garth but don’t be bitter.
Hey Garth, Nice debunking of Main Stream Media!
If a “balanced budget” is $136 billion greater in debt… I’m glad these clowns don’t handle my personal finances.
Obviously this was the rat leaving the sinking ship. I don’t think Harper will make it to 2015. The wheels will fall off long before then.
Caesar the rock star playing the piano with a silly grin on his face while the crowd is laughing at him. F the choir boy singing a swan song for his master to the beat of the drummer, and at the end there will be no applause or bravo. Just deadly silence; oh the horror!
Great – so F births 3% mortgages for the rest of my freakin’ life and bails at the top of the roller coaster. Enjoy your pension, Mr F. I have something here you could eat with your hands.
Goodbye F. …………no comment. Freedom First.
Next one to be on the road in the Political landscape will be Redford in Alberta. Redford paid back the unjustified $45,000 travel expense claim because she was forced to. Her justification for defending her $45,000 travel expense claim was that it was totally justified because she is a “Mother”, and the “Rules” need to be changed to reflect modern times. She lives in a wonderful world of her own making. Unfortunately for her, the Public, and her own Conservative Party, disagree with her breaking the rules.
Lastly, Canadians, do not think for a moment that The Bank Of Canada has 100% control over the interest rates in Canada. Garth has only mentioned this 755 times in his years of writing his inspiring free blog. Don’t take my word for the 755#, just read all of Garth’s posts. Even if my # may be off a touch, at the very least, you might have learned something. I say this, because you can lead a donkey to this blog, but you can’t make the donkey learn anything.
Joe Oliver, as a reward for long and successful political service, including his creation of a national securities regulator and getting Keystone XL approved.
Jam-hands Flaherty can finally relax after a ‘successful’ Economic Action ‘Plan’.
It was a tough job, but he did it without getting egg on his shirt… Just his hands.
Garth for Finance Minister! At least he eats with a knife and fork.
The Ontario reds are deflating everyone’s pockets with high and higher electricity prices, new taxes, H.S.T from the Health tax to new taxes in Toronto and Ontario.
The Federal reds get in and they will deflate everyone’s pockets by much more with higher, new taxes that people can’t imagine today.
France’s government increased taxes 87 times since in power and everyone is getting out of the country like when Bob Rae was in Ontario.
Deflation that Poloz and others talk about means lower account balances in your pockets Canadians! It is not what people think it is.
Dazed and confused in Hamilton.
First we are told to pay down debt. Then Boomers are blamed for not spending more.
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/report-on-business/economy/shifting-demographics-crisis-hangover-hitting-economy-poloz/article17540181/
Thanks Garth for the insight into the PMO’s office and caucus politics. Mr F’s resignation is a relief and your insight is a help for those of us who vote on issues.
When the March 2013 budget was announced I posted this:
http://www.chpc.biz/2/post/2013/03/canadian-budget.html
…with a chart mashup showing among other metrics that the Purchasing Managers Index which reflects Business Owner Confidence, had been in a downtrend since the peaks in 2010-2011. Government policy had not been working.
Two weeks earlier to the question: “How much of a kick are we going to take on the revenue side because of lower nominal GDP?” Mr F replied “Significant, it’s significant.”
http://www.chpc.biz/2/post/2013/03/canadian-gdp-update.html
The government has known for sometime that their single plank financial plan to balance the budget is at the expense of labour (in my opinion) except if you are in the approved labour sector: “Flaherty, Harper & friends … plan to leverage billions in spending on military equipment into making Canada an arms exporter.” (PostMedia News on the 2013 Budget)
We all want butter but it looks like we are going to get guns.
I worked with Jim on his official statement. “returning to the private sector” tested better than “quality time with the family”.
I find it interesting that no one has commented on the most arresting comment in your blog:
“Journalists make lousy politicians because they think they always need to tell the truth” said Stephen Harper. This sentence appears to sum up the view of many that Harper would lie even if the truth were more to his benefit.
Flaherty was just the monkey to Harper the organ grinder and as far as I can tell of little significance outside that limited role.
Joe Oliver
Probably old news by now but 630ched in Edmonton says it is Joe Oliver.
Good deduction by Ralph
The Gospel according to Garth:
None of this has anything to do with the ReformCon program of ultra low corporate taxation and the resulting stratification of society into the wealthy few getting richer, and the rest of us getting poorer.
Sorry Garth – you fail.
The oil companies are getting rich destroying the planet, and will pay Harper and his chrony capitalist buddies well when they get booted out of office.
Yeah I don’t give a shit about Flaherty. I would rather have had the experience of a conservative finance minister. Flaherty was not conservative. Well, that is to say, he personally may or may not be conservative. We don’t know. Maybe Garth knows. He probably is. I am only certain that Flaherty did not want common Canadian folk to be conservative. He only ever wanted everyone to spend spend spend. And for that he deserves his place in hell.
Ever wonder what goes on at those stupid G20 or G8 meetings? You know the ones that always have all the security fences and the guys with the shields and batons? There was that big one in Toronto a few years ago. Current idea is that they are coordinating the next debt boom. A rolling schedule. These guys are willing to bankrupt the people they govern. Far fetched? I don’t have any trouble believing it.
Garth you really are the man!
Here is a video from Yahoo Finance that basically says EVERYTHING that Garth has been telling us lately:
“The case against owning a home”
http://finance.yahoo.com/blogs/daily-ticker/renting-vs–owning-a-home-143539176.html
As for me and my timing of the stock market: Well, I’m still working on it. Everyone says that it is impossible to time the stock market and so far I’m only right about 75% to 85% of the way. I’m good at picking the approximate tops and bottoms, but not the EXACT tops and bottoms. So the top is close, its just that it was a bit too soon to sell right now. With the Chinese companies defaulting big-time right now, that will soon affect our stock markets too, so don’t relax just yet, the market could start crashing any day now.
I never buy individual sectors, I buy UPRO and SPXL, those are 3-times the S&P 500. I did buy a few shares of Tesla (TSLA) but that’s because I know that the future of cars is with electric power, so it’s just emotions there. Don’t invest any more in one individual company than you are able to lose, especially Tesla.
RE #49 Zed on 03.18.14 at 7:08 pm
I still have too many canadian dollars in my portfolio!
Are your US and international ETFs hedged to CAD? If so, switch them to un-hedged. Hedging costs can drag on returns. Hedging also increases overall volatility since the CAD is correlated to commodities which are correlated to the global economy.
Am guessing he is going to set up a contrarian blog to your contrarian blog…..but, the big question is, will the blog be called, f-blog, flog, or simply fog and were those green eggs and ham he was eating?
If so, there may be secret clues hidden in those rhymes to future fed policy, especially the part where it says,
“I would not, could not, in the rain.
Not in the dark. Not on a train,
Not in a car, Not in a tree.
I do not like them, Sam, you see.
Not in a house. Not in a box.”
I will not eat them here or there.
I do not like them anywhere!”
This reeks of secular stagnation, especially in highly levered areas of the economy such as cars, houses and condo boxes……
Give the man his due. Mr. Flaherty was a good Finance Minister. He was at the helm during one of the worst financial periods Canada has experienced, and I believe he did OK.
Here is my opinion on what’s happening in Canada.
China is slowing down and our exports to China is thus slowing down. That is why our economy is slowing down, we are losing jobs, and our dollar is sinking.
“China FDI data indicates sharp slowdown in February”
http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/03/18/us-china-economy-fdi-idUSBREA2H06020140318?feedType=RSS&feedName=businessNews
“China premier warns on economic slowdown as data fans stimulus talk”
http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/03/13/us-china-parliament-idUSBREA2C09L20140313
“UPDATE 2-Property firm’s default risk exposes China fault lines”
http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/03/18/china-bankruptcy-property-idUSL3N0MF0IG20140318
Looming property default in China raises fears of broader crisis
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/china-business/10703990/Looming-property-default-in-China-raises-fears-of-broader-crisis.html
Now one or two or even 10 defaults is not going to cause a big problem in such a huge country as China, but if you start getting 4 or 5 new defaults every week, combined with a slowing Chinese economy, well then, that’s different, that will be enough to cause really big problems. That is why there is a big chance that the Canadian economy will continue to sink even if the U.S. economy rises, it is because we are much more tied to the Chinese economy than the U.S. is, and that is because we depend so much on the exporting of raw natural resources to China.
Personally, I would like to see Rob Ford as the new minister of finance.
But JF only did good, right?
http://fullcomment.nationalpost.com/2014/03/18/john-ivison-jim-flaherty-leaves-his-successor-a-budget-thats-the-envy-of-the-g7/
I’m betting a toasted western with a side of bacon
In any event, there have been better and there have been worse than Flaherty.
The older I get the more I try to manage my affairs in a manner than can’t be significantly impacted by any regime or their skill set.
This applies to the realms of work, personal finance or hobby
Garth is shining his shoes in preparation of being the next FM! Congrats!
Man Canadians are geniuses the lot of them, especially the politicians. Austrlians join them as equal gifted children, with fat wealthy heirs to thegold ls and energy beneath the earth not a tax of which goes towards the people, sustainable energy and more. Sure we also have tons of fresh water, trees and more than Oz but we squander it all away the toilet just the other way around the hole.
Look at Norway they tax oil at 50% and have almost 1 trillion saved up.
All we have from buffalo hump back whale is a bunch of wood in McMansions and non hybrid Suvs the size of dump trucks to drive their over weight Canucks to the local drive through. Great idea, how bout an er drive through so after you have the triple burger you get a triple bypass too.
And put the tab on under 40s youth like me, and my children’s children.
Someone has to pay for the big fat stupid excess
Good riddance to him.
I wonder why he was crying on Lang O leery show two weeks ago.
Probably because he knew he created the biggest housing gas bag in the world.
charming
creative
kind
outgoing
talented
So funny for 5 years class
mates.com had been trying to get 8 bucks a year from me to get full access.
Now they have a thing where people remember you, this is what they said see top, my paste thing is f-ed
I hated school and my class mates.
Never going to get 8 bucks from me.
Hahahahah, 64 year old F is gonna get a job in the ‘private sector’? In this economy? LOL
Oh, wait. I forgot he’s not a commoner, like us.
Right then, I’d say don’t let the door kick your ass on the way out, but who am I kidding. Revolving doors don’t do that.
The F tapes are out.
Saw this publically online?!?!
“Our new finance minister is a lawyer with an MBA from Harvard, who used to work on Bay Street and managed the Ontario Securities Commission.”
Regina is booming……Not!!!!!
http://www.leaderpost.com/business/Regina+moribund+real+estate+market+bucks+bullish+national+trend/9631547/story.html
Every Norweigan a milloinaire… every Canadian a million in debt
http://mobile.reuters.com/article/idUSBREA0710U20140108?irpc=932
Man how did the smart Canadians let the oil, gas, fisheries, water, lumber, gold and a thousand other things go towards fat politicians and rixh companies. Shame on us
Enjoy the ” future ” here I certainly wont be part of it despite being born here.
Cold friggid tundra… even my clean car hates the salt pellets and slushy muck
I think the guy should be given a medal to have put up with H for that length of time. I wish him well.
http://mobile.reuters.com/article/idUSBREA0710U20140108?irpc=932
For all their financial acumen and economic know-how, all that central bankers know how to do is create inflation (i.e debt money) and call it “stimulus.” I guess when all you got is a hammer…
One of life’s great truths is that there is no such thing as a free lunch. So-called ‘stimulus’ by central banks is really just the spending today of tomorrow’s income. The plan––the hope (please, God, let it work!)––is that tomorrow there will be enough income to pay for today’s spending, and tomorrow’s spending. But when tomorrow comes and there is insufficient income, well, just ‘stimulate’ some more.
It’s like finding yourself in a hole and you try to get out by digging deeper because if you dig deep enough maybe you’ll discover an elevator.
But unfortunately our current system is designed for one thing: inflation. That’s it. Without inflation, the system implodes. Because old debt requires new debt to service it. Because inflation is the source of bank profits and a lot of government income. It really is a sick system and the sooner it dies the better.
As for F quitting: meh.
Garth, why don’t you run for prime minister. You got my vote.
More mind-numbing drivel from the real estate-banking-media complex.
Analysts bullish about Vancouver real estate market as massive transfer of baby boomer wealth looms
http://www.theprovince.com/business/Analysts+bullish+about+Vancouver+real+estate+market+massive+transfer+baby+boomer+wealth/9629066/story.html
$1 trillion estimated inheritance to be received by baby boomers in Canada over the next 20 years
Sotheby’s expects many boomers to hand those inheritances directly to their own children.
“An inheritance is an opportunity to assist their millennial generation children with down payments to enter the real-estate market, particularly in major urban centres such as Vancouver, where housing affordability is an ongoing concern.”
So broke boomers going into retirement shall according to realtors fork over all this inheritance dough for their expectant coddled and hard done by kids to pay for the most severely overvalued real estate in the world.
My, times have changed. Apparently we learn all our values now from con artists and their media. Explains everything, banks will love this
..And put the tab on under 40s youth like me, and my children’s children.Someone has to pay for the big fat stupid excess
Oh yeah, and dont forget to ask over 1 mill for that brown energy rat shack in tundra land to pay off all your other debts.
Over my dead body im handing that type of cash to you people
Garth, that podcast was a neat time capsule back to ’06. Thanks (and to your Webmaster) for posting it.
Doesn’t F get to draw two pensions too? One from MPP days and one from his MP days? Sweet deal.
F’s super special long term mortgages will be long remembered.
So with Flaherty out, do we see the Banks now dip below the 2.99% mortgage floor rate? Will the new Minister tell BMO and Manulife to back off?
#80 Mark on 03.18.14 at 8:01 pm
As I’ve been pointing out for years on this blog and elsewhere, rate decreases are very desperately needed in the Canadian economy.
That’s patently absurd.
The last thing a dying alcoholic needs is a 26 of rye. Or that a fat #%# from southern ontario needs is a triple milkshake with extra sugar.
The debt economy & house addicts need a full-on financial diet to squeeze out all the misplaced debt from their systems. Or an enema, depending on your point of view.
A good pair of track shoes and a 500 dollar credit limit is what the lot of them need. Not another face full of cake and an additional truckload of consumerist plastic crap to stuff inside some disgusting pretend-standalone chipboard doghouse.
Let the indebted bastards burn, and have their kids pay it off over the next 4 generations.
Dude,
I once had a roommate who would cook up toast and an egg. He’d proceed to slather the toast with raspberry jam, slam the egg on there, and that was breakfast.
Those are breakfast things, but they have to be kept apart !
Good riddance to the biggest failure since Greenspan. F will go down in history as the single biggest destroyer of wealth ever in Canada. He ran for the hills like Carney, watch for more to follow.
BTW, did he pick up the tab for the bacon and eggs ? Eating B&E’s with his fingers. Gross.
He actually eats with his little fingers?! Hope there wasn’t any kids around. The minister of finance eating with his fingers. That’s really hilarious.
Will we ever know who was responsible for the 40 year mortgages? They should be held responsible for prolonging the “correction” for years and letting us wind up in this situation.
Thankfully we have Alison Redford, Christy Clark and Pauline Moron leading three of the wealthiest provinces over the near future….
“That is why there is a big chance that the Canadian economy will continue to sink even if the U.S. economy rises, it is because we are much more tied to the Chinese economy than the U.S. is, and that is because we depend so much on the exporting of raw natural resources to China.”
Perhaps, but generally in times of significant defaults, there’s a significant bid for gold. And the Canadian stock market is disproportionately weighted towards gold, and energy production. The former largely going to China, the latter exclusively going to the United States.
#100 John on 03.18.14 at 8:44 pm
I think you are wrong on this… I was thinking of F, when I though full page add featuring TD offering 2.99% mortgages. Sometime later announcement came out. This is not a coincidence. F at least realized the danger of debt fueled housing bubble when he implemented borrowing restrictions. Give man a credit. I’m afraid 30 years mortgaged will be back soon, as sub 3% already are just in time for spring market.
…….
If you are giving him credit for “realizing the date of debt fueled housing bubble when he implemented borrowing restrictions” you must remember he was the architect of the whole bubble by implementing 40 year/0% mortgages which began the whole parade!
Jim Flaherty and I have had our moments. Today, after eight years, he quit. Why would he do that?
A balanced budget by 2015? Make that 3015… no wonder he quit.
Impressive. Didn’t know who F was until today (don’t watch the news and don’t follow politics – well, trying my best, some bits always trickle throu), but did vote for Joe Oliver in 2011, so at least know the name :)
As your blog will become even more popular – do you think Discus or some other plugin can be, well, plugged in?..
Disqus Features:
– Threaded comments and replies
– Notifications and reply by email
– Subscribe and RSS options
– Aggregated comments and social mentions
– Powerful moderation and admin tools
– Full spam filtering, blacklists and whitelists
– Support for Disqus community widgets
– Connected with a large discussion community
– Increased exposure and readership
http://wordpress.org/plugins/disqus-comment-system
Re: #31 juno on 03.18.14 at 6:46 pm
Buy gold and silver at the very end of March at the end of the last business day. Don’t buy U.S. dollars.
Re: #19 randman on 03.18.14 at 6:34 pm
What’s bad about deflation?
When countries like Canada and America have huge national debts the last thing you want is deflation.
Re: #123 Waterloo Resident on 03.18.14 at 9:58 pm
It was very easy to time the market up until around 1995 as the world economy and worldwide stock markets correlated almost one to one. Now everything seems to be manipulated malarkey where the opposite of what should happen happens. This is what leads to crashes as the disconnect before the ’29 crash (stock market levels and shape of the real economy) was only about 18 months. Today the disconnect has been going on since around the year 2002 so you can just imagine what the next crash in the local stock markets will look like. The bankruptcy of Lehman Brothers was just a precursor of the shape of things to come.
Do you think more of our beloved leaders can’t or won’t use a fork?
It would explain a lot.
Jiminy Failhearty
Goodbye and good riddance, Canada’s worst finance minister… maybe other than Marc Lalonde…
Flaherty – a finance minister who nearly broke his arm patting himself on the back…
Garth, Harper can’t be far behind from quitting. Why don’t you challenge him for the leadership and make marijuana legal? Give tax credits to greenhouses and specialty lightbulbs and let’s turn this country around. Rob Ford could be the Minister of Partying!
Flarety is a good guy who did what any of us would do in that same situation. He sold out/cashed in to keep his job. Nothing wrong with that. That “moral code” that people think they live by can always, and I mean always, be adjusted for the right price. You wouldn’t believe how many bosses I’ve had to sleep with to get my way to middle management.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pc0mxOXbWIU
Rob Ford 2014! Why? The only two things that people outside of Canaduh know about Canaduh, is Rob Ford and BC bud!
#132 DocInWaitingRoom on 03.18.14 at 10:47 pm
Man Canadians are geniuses the lot of them, especially the politicians. Austrlians join them as equal gifted children, with fat wealthy heirs to thegold ls and energy beneath the earth not a tax of which goes towards the people, sustainable energy and more.
****
Yup, and gut the middle class while they are at it, Canada is just behind the USA in child poverty. What a great legacy F and company has left us. Next time the voters get mad perhaps they should stay home instead of voting for parties that go against their own best interest.
“…..Needless to say, a rate cut would be the ultimate admission the minister of finance failed…..”
================== ======
Failed? well, not quite.
He was successful at incubating record bank profits for over a decade, just as he was lobbied to do, a mere prostitute to the self-indulgent financial word.
Too bad it came at the expense of the rest of Canadians.
I like neither the man nor his brand. I would, however, have liked to have seen him achieve his goal of a single, national securities regulator.
Perhaps the antithesis to F eating bacon and eggs with his fingers is the late Bobby Kennedy, who, during the 1968 U.S. Presidential campaign, raised eyebrows as he was observed eating pizza with a fork.
[…] […]
Funny on Max Keiser about the Canadian housing, the whole world knows it is mathematical impossible to continue the hosing orgy when the pop is 165% indebted
His quote, made howl…
The Canadian housing is a good example of what happens when you smoke maple
syrup.http://rt.com/shows/keiser-report/episode-576-max-keiser-482/
….you eat with your fingers, you end up with egg on your face….
20 more months to go- lord what agony.
I feel sad for many of my fellow Canadians, particularly the younger cohort. They’ve had their most hopeful, optimistic and potentially productive years taken away from them. Those who are classic profiles for the jar lady (love you Gail!) must put the debt machinery in reverse, spend years or decades paying off debt and THEN start rebuilding….if they keep their jobs. This protracted re-building phase will indeed result in ” high savings that have been directed to less productive uses such as housing.”
I can’t wait to see what other , cloud-shoveling, destructive “action plan” comes down the pipe.
The way things are going, Canada could well be known as “the country that real estate destroyed.”
Good news !! and about time !! http://www.scmp.com/comment/blogs/article/1452248/exit-strategy-canada-target-tax-and-visa-cheats-tracking-departures
Thanks F for making this just a little harder but Kristina says we can make this work.
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/globe-investor/personal-finance/mortgages/home-buyers-squeezed-out-of-market-must-work-harder/article17516882/
Just. Awesome.
!
As your housing and investment thesis plays out to a T, please keep the reminiscences coming. Man, that is some good stuff!
Holy shit.. the new guy looks like a real creep! Do you think you can do an “early days” podcast with him, Garth?
http://news.nationalpost.com/2014/03/18/joe-oliver-expected-to-be-named-canadas-next-finance-minister-a-relative-political-newcomer/
Seriously though, we need to know. How were those eggs prepared?
Just listened to that 2006 podcast…. love the question on running a deficit:
“ha ha ha – that’s not me, and the Prime Minister has been clear also that we’ll balance the budget”
(says the Finance Minister who has added record amounts to Canada’s federal debt)
On the flip side – he did seem genuinely enthused about the podcast! Garth – reading between the lines here, it seems that the Conservative regime (and all of the secrets and lies) are a Harper trait, and even F and others simply “fell in line”?
BBC News
“Robot writes LA Times earthquake breaking news article”
http://www.bbc.com/news/technology-26614051
Is this a story about Canadian Journalists?
I am looking at this timely departure another way within the context of a future election. Did Caesar kick F under the bus? Now if things blow up this Spring and continue throughout 2015 the last person alive would be F. The opposition parties would have a field day and F would become the target as Caesar’s boy to an unruly crowd of voters. I say that F was shown the door as it was time to bring in another puppet with cleaner hands.
US hedgie picked a great time to Short Kanada. Especially if there’s a plan afoot which will ‘economically bomb’ First World Countries into Second World Status. Even our head mind controller/leader has resorted to giving away our tax dollars to other countries. Right before our eyes.
Really! You live in the middle of Toronto, and you didn’t know who Jim F. was … yet you know about a program called Discus!
Are you kidding me??!?!
You’re bizarre!
Garth we need more people like you. At least you listen to us complainers on the other side. Politicians in Ottawa are dead inside.
Now Garth will be vindicated when F declares in which company he will work for.
We need a new alias for the successor.
Keep the phone on Garth, there are still chances he will call you to take his place and blame you for his mess while you try to clean it, like the farewell gift to you for his friendship.
At the end we are the captains of our financial boats, we are the results of our own decisions
What about his role with the g20?
During Australia’s host year, the members of the G20 troika are Australia, Russia and Turkey
86 multinationals are being investigated by the ATO.
Read more: http://www.smh.com.au/business/86-multinationals-on-ato-high-risk-tax-hitlist-20140318-34zhi.html#ixzz2wPkniJc5
G20 governments have instructed the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development to devise a change in international tax laws to stop companies from routing profits through tax havens.
The OECD will work with G20 governments over the coming months to implement specific parts of its plan, known as the Base Erosion and Profit Shifting action plan.
Read more: http://www.smh.com.au/business/86-multinationals-on-ato-high-risk-tax-hitlist-20140318-34zhi.html#ixzz2wPkg5XUg
2013 St Petersburg
The G20 Leaders Summit was held from 5-6 September 2013 in St Petersburg, Russia.
Key outcomes of the summit included:
•the St Petersburg Action Plan, which sets out reforms for achieving strong, sustainable and balanced growth, coupled with an Accountability Assessment describing progress made on past commitments
•extending the G20’s commitment not to introduce new trade or investment protectionist measures until the end of 2016
•full endorsement of the OECD-created Action Plan aimed at addressing tax base erosion and profit shifting
•the St Petersburg Accountability Report on G20 Development Commitments, which sets out the progress achieved since the G20 adopted the 2010 Seoul Multi-Year Action Plan on Development
•endorsement of the St Petersburg Development Outlook, which states the core priorities, new initiatives and ongoing commitments for the G20’s development work
•extending the mandate for the Task Force on Employment by another year
•commitment to identify and start to implement by the Brisbane Summit a set of collective and country-specific actions that tangibly improve domestic investment environments
•a reaffirmed commitment to implementation of agreed financial regulatory reforms and International Monetary Fund reform.
BagMan! (for the banks)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bagman
Looking at Joe Oliver’s profile (Wikipedia), the guy at least looks to have significant industry background – i.e. he’s not just a lifer politician.
MBA from Harvard Business School
Investment Banker w/ Merrill Lynch
Head of Ontario Securities Commission
CEO of the Investment Dealers Association of Canada
I haven’t followed this guy closely enough to know if he’s a typical Harper Goon or not, but I’m willing to give him a chance.
“. Jim ate his breakfast, including bacon and eggs, with his fingers. “………that partly explains why he left with “egg on his face”……:-)
One word – FATCA. Flaherty is leaving before the S&i+ hits the fan after July 1, 2014 (ironically CANADA DAY) which is when the USA’s Foreign Account Tax Compliance Law comes into effect in Canada. One million Canadians living, earning and paying taxes in Canada. who have ‘clingining USA nationality’ (for example were born in USA while their parents were attending college) and their families have pleaded with Flaherty for months, not to sign a deal with the devil, but to no avail.
Starting this Canada Day, banks will start the witch hunt to find all these so-called (according to the USA) tax cheats (your neighbours, co-workers, friends) and hand them over to the IRS for processing. Most will owe no actual taxes, but bankrupting penalties will be calculated based on the value of their bank account balances considered ‘hidden off-shore, tax evading accounts’ by USA.
I wonder what ‘F’ got in return for agreeing to FATCA? I wouldn’t be surprised if his next job in the private sector is for the big 5 banks who have been pressuring our government to sign away our sovereignty for months.
In any event, to discriminate based on place of birth, is a violation of our Charter of Rights and Freedoms. A group of Canadians with ‘clinging US nationality’ (like gum on the bottom of their shoes) has retained Joe Arvay to give a legal opinion as to whether or not their is a case for a Charter Challenge (all expect a clear ‘yes’). It took only 6 days to raise the funds for the legal opinion. Next phase will be fund raising for the Charter Challenge itself.
It is amazing that Canadian media has not picked up on this story to any great degree – makes you wonder what is going on behind closed government doors.
In any event, be prepared for some major public blowback when people really start to become aware of the worst law most people have never heard of. Many will not know what hit them until they are sitting across from ‘the nice lady at the bank’ who tells them their bank acounts (balances, transactions, joint owners names, etc) will be reported to the IRS because they or their spouse or kid was born in the USA.
#180 Grantmi on 03.19.14 at 8:48 am
#156 Ilona on 03.19.14 at 1:54 am
Really! You live in the middle of Toronto, and you didn’t know who Jim F. was … yet you know about a program called Discus!
Are you kidding me??!?!
You’re bizarre!
____________
Well, I didn’t know who Garth was intil last week (stumbled upon his blog thanks to “real condo math” google search :), but used to read a very interesting blog about “Life, The Universe and Everything” that used Discus – still get email notifications when someone replies to one of my old comments… :)
I think Carneys and F’s stimulus plans back in 08/09 weren’t bad idea’s considering what was going on with the GFD at the time. In hind sight they just did too much for too long … and trimmed back the rules way too late. But they ignored the additional steps necessary to helping a country ….. and that is working on programs that would help Canada get back in the business of being in business.
Now fortunately (or unfortunately) the circle of life for countries will show Canada going through very tough times the next few years and our dollar will sink back down to where we CAN be competitive again in the manufacturing sectors.
But all through the next recovery ….. many people will be carrying enormous debt (mtg’s., heloc’s, 7 year car loans) ……. and many will be wading through that muck for over half their lives.
Grrrr, there not their. Why do I never notice these mistakes until after I hit submit, even though I proof-read my post first?
171 robert james
Those cover incoming and out going…i agree with that
but what about Extradition co-operation?
=========
35 swiss bankers 25 financial advisors ?
read the Letter to Justice Department on extradition Two U.S. Senators ask the Justice Department to try to extradite indicted Swiss bankers
Bravo Garth,
Flipping on my Berry….hmm
What did you have?Pancakes,bluberries and maple
syrup?
wow that robot is a multitasker did you see it playing ping pong?
or jimmy kimmel lie news
Garth, I was a big supporter of flaherty and Harper when they were both the underdogs. They are living proof that no matter how well intentioned, absolute power corrupts absolutely. Problem is, they’re still the least of the currently available evils.
Does anyone else need anymore proof that the bailout plans were a total waste of money, except if you’re an investment banker?
We would have all been better off enduring short term pain rather than the multi decade tax slavery we all must now endure.
Our kids will thank us for robbing their future prosperity.
Thanks F!
If it wasn’t for the 40 yr mortgage, I wouldn’t have got in to the market….up 40% here in the 416 :)
Well now I know you’re Bizarre if you didn’t know WHO GARTH was. (and the fact that you read a blog called Life, the universe and everything! Double bizarre)
Pick up a free 24 hour news paper on the TTC once in a while. You might learn something.
Oh! BTW.. did you know that Elvis died!
When the day comes for the definitive autopsy to be written on the Harper economic record, none will be more qualified nor capable for the task than Garth.
Interest rates won’t go up until after the next election.
Here’s a link to Harper’s Nixon strategy…
http://www.poletical.com/harper-and-interest-rates.php
The PMO has nothing to do with interest rates. — Garth
Why does MSM here consistently label Russian Billionaires as Oligarchs, it sounds sinister, gangsterish. MSM here is so consistent, so in tune with each other that any reasonable minded person can see they are controlled little pussies.
No descent what so ever on geo politics, party line through and through. It’s dangerous and proves we don’t live in democracy. 98% of the people in Crimea vote to join Russia. But that’s not democracy, it’s not good enough.
I got to be honest, I like Putin a lot, he’s a rock star in my eyes….(Add that to my big ass shit list file CSIS,CIA,NSA and who ever else hangs on my every word)
Putin is that disruptive smart kid in high school who challenges the principle who’s backing a stupid teacher. Out foxes them every time. And when they lose and can’t win the argument, they resort to name calling. The schooled are so predictable.
The International Community, what the hell is that?
Harpo the spokesmen leading the charge, openly kissing some cowards ass who always hiding behind the curtain.
Harpo stupidly showing his poker hand every single time.
Obviously he never played poker or chess. Only game he knows is dropping to his knees and pleasuring his cowardly masters who ever they may be. I just know it isn’t us.
I don’t think he’s that bright, probably needed a night light as a kid, long history of being afraid of the dark. Hell Garth scared the shit out of him back in the day. Garths crime, he had opinions and a means to express them. To a tyrant and coward that is intolerable unacceptable advantage. Gartho must go…………
Putin must be laughing his ass off at Harpo and Big Bird. Hell I am, and I even don’t have nukes to back me up….
Re: #114
“… higher electricity prices, new taxes, H.S.T from the Health tax to new taxes in Toronto and Ontario.”
Sorry, but it is not a Health tax. Dalton said, “No new taxes.” It is a “Health Premium.” It says so on my Income Tax form.
What next? I suspect some kind of Public Transit Premium or road tolls are in the works! Kathleen Wynne has been too evasive as to how she will keep the spending party going as the provincial economy deteriorates.
#87 Victor V: “It’s very unfortunate for Canada to lose ‘the best finance minister ever’: Rob Ford on Flaherty resignation”
********************
You ARE considering the source?
#89 MrHurlot: “The Candain economy and banks sailed through the financial crisis in 2008 with no thanks to Falhery…”
**********************
Canada hasn’t sailed thru anything. It’s catching up to us now.
Canadian household debt to disposible income ratio 164%
Too much debt not enough economic activity.
Computer automation set to replace more people, see links.
http://www.maxkeiser.com/2014/03/bill-gates-hey-working-people-youre-about-to-be-replaced-by-software-bots/
http://www.bbc.com/news/technology-26614051
To quote Indiana Jones and Han Solo “I’ve got a bad feeling about this.”
journalists who are trying to tell the truth
‘Yanukovych Leaks’ documents abuse of office
Fugitive Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych led a lavish lifestyle – allegedy financed by money laundering and bribery. Journalists are analyzing documents he left behind – and putting them online as well.
http://www.dw.de/yanukovych-leaks-documents-abuse-of-office/a-17499525
#118 Ford Prefect: “Flaherty was just the monkey to Harper the organ grinder and as far as I can tell of little significance outside that limited role.”
*****************
Remember — Harper DID promise we wouldn’t recognize Canada when he got thru with it. Promise fulfilled.
#197 Grantmi on 03.19.14 at 10:05 am
#189 Ilona on 03.19.14 at 9:43 am
Well now I know you’re Bizarre
___________
Thank you, I’ll consider changing my username lol
Pick up a free 24 hour news paper on the TTC once in a while. You might learn something.
___________
I used to love 24 thanks to sudokus, but since becoming a Tumblr dweller can’t consume any news if they don’t have a funny cat gif in them lol
Oh! BTW.. did you know that Elvis died!
___________
Yep – he got reincarnated on the planet I’m from :) And advised to not waste my precious time here on politicians who are usually boring old farts with no sense of humor ;)
#119 Interest rates won’t go up until after the next election.
The rates will never go up. For the rates to be going up we need economic growth here, that isn’t going to happen. 6 years of low rate strategy have brought economy to stagnation… 6 years – hasn’t it been long enough to understand that economic stimulus base low rates don’t work. And what’s an alternative? Austerity? Consumerism – is the only social and economic ideology existing in people’s mind here. Who will be bold enough to say people: “consume less.” Just imagine to say somebody in Canada that they are NOT “richer than they think”. Your face will be rearranged in 5 sec. (I mean figuratively, of course).
Fly free Elfin Deity!! Your bubbly personality and constipation-face will be truly missed! :)
Rules of the game no longer apply.
Play by old boys rules get creamed.
Higher taxes, low interest rates, lower standard of living for all Kanadians.
They have no ideas, no solutions.
Some 73 year geezer at the Finance helm? Pleeeze.
Heave Steve 2015
#118 Ford Prefect: “Flaherty was just the monkey to Harper the organ grinder and as far as I can tell of little significance outside that limited role.”
*****************
Remember — Harper DID promise we wouldn’t recognize Canada when he got thru with it. Promise fulfilled.
I believe the PMO has a lot more influence on the interest rates than everyone chooses to believe. Still nobody wanting to talk about who was behind the 40 year mortgages….Just praise for F for getting rid of them..
Garth, bitter much?
Hardly. Life’s too short. — Garth
Do you think conservatives care more about their brand?
News for “It cared more about savings than safety and more about its own brand and bottom line than the truth,” Bharara said.
US says Toyota to pay $1.2 billion over safety issues
Reuters – 2 hours ago”It cared more about savings than safety and more about its own brand and bottom line than the truth,” Bharara said. Toyota said it would take a …
HA! I always thought Garth’s voice would sound like Terry Milewski. He sounds like my buddy Pete!
Joe Oliver is the MP for my riding. The funny thing is that my riding was liberal for a long long time prior to the last election:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eglinton%E2%80%94Lawrence
This last election it swung to conservative due to lower liberal popularity and a strong ultra-religious Jewish vote. Plus my vote because I wanted to see the long-gun registry abolished. (Side note to the liberal party, you could gain A LOT of support from socially liberal people if you started, you know, being socially liberal about gun ownership like you are about marijuana, abortion, etc.)
Anyway, if this next election is borderline, this Toronto riding is likely to fall to the liberals, and the finance minister will no longer have his seat.
#200 Smoking Man on 03.19.14 at 10:14 am
Why does MSM here consistently label Russian Billionaires as Oligarchs, it sounds sinister, gangsterish. MSM here is so consistent, so in tune with each other that any reasonable minded person can see they are controlled little pussies.
No descent what so ever on geo politics, party line through and through. It’s dangerous and proves we don’t live in democracy. 98% of the people in Crimea vote to join Russia. But that’s not democracy, it’s not good enough.
I got to be honest, I like Putin a lot, he’s a rock star in my eyes….(Add that to my big ass shit list file CSIS,CIA,NSA and who ever else hangs on my every word)
Putin is that disruptive smart kid in high school who challenges the principle who’s backing a stupid teacher. Out foxes them every time. And when they lose and can’t win the argument, they resort to name calling. The schooled are so predictable.
The International Community, what the hell is that?
Harpo the spokesmen leading the charge, openly kissing some cowards ass who always hiding behind the curtain.
Harpo stupidly showing his poker hand every single time.
Obviously he never played poker or chess. Only game he knows is dropping to his knees and pleasuring his cowardly masters who ever they may be. I just know it isn’t us.
I don’t think he’s that bright, probably needed a night light as a kid, long history of being afraid of the dark. Hell Garth scared the shit out of him back in the day. Garths crime, he had opinions and a means to express them. To a tyrant and coward that is intolerable unacceptable advantage. Gartho must go…………
Putin must be laughing his ass off at Harpo and Big Bird. Hell I am, and I even don’t have nukes to back me up….
_____________________________________________
Smoking Man this is where you must lean to communicate effectively. “Gartho must go………….”
It is an open ended statement. It could mean Gatho must go, get rid of Garth, It could mean Garth I have to go now, It could mean a general statement that Gartho must go sort of like “down with Rob Ford.” Link your words to communicate what you are intending to say.
As for Putin being your hero, good luck in that one. Putin is a shark. Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin was born in Leningrad (now St. Petersburg), Russia, on October 7, 1952. After graduating from Leningrad State University in 1975, he began his career in the KGB as an intelligence officer. Stationed mainly in East Germany, he held that position until 1989. Following the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991, Putin retired from the KGB with the rank of colonel, and returned to Leningrad as a supporter of Anatoly Sobchak (1937-2000), a liberal politician. After Sobchak won election as mayor of Leningrad (1991), Putin became his head of external relations; in 1994, Putin became Sobchak’s first deputy mayor. Once a KGB agent always a KGB agent. He will use what ever means necessary to achieve the goals of the Russian Federation. KGB agents don’t laugh, they only smirk. As the saying goes You can put a tuxedo on a goat, but its still a goat!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QhpHuHxrWHk
To #201 Ret
Try not to pay your health tax, premium, confiscation etc.
See what happens to you, Ret!
Why is a premium being paid by with forms used in an Ontario income tax form.
Auto insurance premiums are paid not using an income tax form. People are really clueless these days in Ontario.
Deleted? Garth check your archives. You used the same language when talking about F much of the time. And you cherry pick allot which people are pointing out. What happened to “balanced”?
The fallacy that gov can create jobs or boost the economy or have control over anything (economic)…
How did the USA build the most powerful economy from 1800 to 1929 without taxes, computers, TFSA’s, and paper money?
Simple, government was not in the way.
Natural Resources Minister Joe Oliver will be Canada’s next finance minister, CTV News has confirmed, as Jim Flaherty steps down from the position he’s held since 2006. Oh really I didn’t notice! So now the F is gone I was really hoping to use one of the other 26 letters and now the choice has been made already, Dam……….
O, O, O, this will take some getting used to!
https://24.media.tumblr.com/a12330215f75e18bb9716cc07fa1dc09/tumblr_n2neejMsa71rkp7jjo1_500.png
*
https://24.media.tumblr.com/0a980a923a0b1452e61cf88488ff52f8/tumblr_n2n7m9IL8n1t0cscho1_400.gif
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A PIcture Is Worth A Thousand Words… :)
KAT…..it is like having a colonoscopy…but it is not entirely the axe murder you describe.
“One word – FATCA. Flaherty is leaving before the S&i+ hits the fan after July 1, 2014 (ironically CANADA DAY) which is when the USA’s Foreign Account Tax Compliance Law comes into effect in Canada. One million Canadians living, earning and paying taxes in Canada. who have ‘clingining USA nationality’ (for example were born in USA while their parents were attending college) and their families have pleaded with Flaherty for months, not to sign a deal with the devil, but to no avail.
Starting this Canada Day, banks will start the witch hunt to find all these so-called (according to the USA) tax cheats (your neighbours, co-workers, friends) and hand them over to the IRS for processing. Most will owe no actual taxes, but bankrupting penalties will be calculated based on the value of their bank account balances considered ‘hidden off-shore, tax evading accounts’ by USA. ”
Yes it is an affront to soveriegnty….but it is Canada along with every other nation that trades with the USA. It is a process to be sure…..you must file your TFSA seperatley…..and all the other stuff is just disclosre of assets under an FBAR filing. You’ll have to apply for a SSI…or ETN…whichever you fall under. You can apply for an extension right now if your not ready yet.
The documentation is pretty easy to produce….the highest amount of each bank account during the last fiscal year…..of all acounts held…inc RRSP…RESP…LIRA…Bank Acoounts etc ..regardless of the amounts.
Your right….no taxes payable in most cases…but the penalty for not filing can be as high as $250K in some cases.
Bottom line…unless you have given up your US citizenship you are required to file….like everyone else. Being in Canada doesn’t give you a Disneyland day pass.
#207 Ilona on 03.19.14 at 10:35 am
#197 Grantmi on 03.19.14 at 10:05 am
PS Thank you, Grantmi! :D
In defence of Flaherty, Dalton crapping out Ontario’s finances, raising the tax burden and the sky rocketing energy rates (all so we can stand by a few windmills) have played a big role in the local economy of Ontario as well as the National economy. Its going to be harder to manage the economy when your economic engine dies flatly and becomes a have not-province like we’ve seen over the past 5 years here. Municipally, most jurisdictions are saying they are only raising taxes by 2%, but then raising water and sewer bills 5-10% every year which ultimately means a tax raise well above 2%/year for the average home owner. Much of this is to fund make work or pet projects that have nothing to do with core services. Because of this, people like me are seeing their disposable income shrinking and are therefore spending less in the economy and/or are avoiding home purchases because it is getting too expensive to live here (in Ontario) – again, much due to the other two levels of government. Hell, I’d love to work a transfer to a Western province if I could with my government job. The one thing I have learned is that Finance Minister’s levers only work so well, when the provincial counterparts are following suit which is what I see in Ontario for the last half decade.
A plunging dollar exacerbates a situation we already knew …Canadaians are getting poorer all the time and can’t afford vacations…heres the blunt truth
http://business.financialpost.com/2014/03/18/nay-cation-why-canadians-are-leaving-vacation-days-on-the-table/
And the Meat Puppet Poloz has made things even worse by kicking the dollar under the bus with his jawboning…..it isn’t like the dollar was under any pressure until this buffoon started his anti Canada campaign. Not only are imports screaming up in price…but the thought of escaping the misery of work and weather are gone too. I wonder where Poloz vacations? Let them eat sand eh Poloz?
Flaherty quit so he can join the private sector and short the real estate market
#219 happity “Simple, government was not in the way.”
This government never stood in the way of funneling tax dollars to corporations. What happened? Leave the ‘dereg’ rationalizations for southern ditttohead zombies.
#215 sciencemonkey
Firearms are our defence against liberals…..which is why they want to control them.
But, given their relaxed attitude towards pot, maybe they figure’d out that if we’re all too stoned to shoot straight, it won’t matter ?
#’Happity’HistoryLessons
“How did the USA build the most powerful economy from 1800 to 1929 without taxes, computers, TFSA’s, and paper money?” – Happity
http://tinyurl.com/q6y73vz
http://tinyurl.com/o4yjgn5
http://tinyurl.com/oxtn2b3
http://tinyurl.com/oxweb83
Lots of racist comments about eating with fingers.
In Africa they do it all the time.
And chopsticks are extensions of the fingers.
Once in Italy, I observed a dinner in a restaurant eating a banana with knife and fork.
Now that’s class.
Also, there was a Seinfeld episode where Elaine’s boss eats a candy bar with knife and fork.
I’m sure SM drinks his JD straight out of the bottle.
#134 Smoking Man on 03.18.14 at 10:53 pm
charming
creative
kind
outgoing
talented
So funny for 5 years classmates.com had been trying to get 8 bucks a year from me to get full access.
Now they have a thing where people remember you, this is what they said see top, my paste thing is f-ed
I hated school and my class mates.
Never going to get 8 bucks from me.
_____________________________________________
Wow you attended school!
It’s time for the Irish to hand back control over Canada to the Canadians.
And the investment bankers keep running the States and Canukistan.
One thing that won’t happen here:
‘Ring of Death’ Throttles Georgia as Small Banks Close
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2014-03-19/-ring-of-death-throttles-georgia-as-banks-too-small-to-save.html
The PMO has nothing to do with interest rates. — Garth
——————————
Then, who is running the country?
I guess it’s the investment bankers after all.
#231 Son of Ponzi on 03.19.14 at 2:34 pmOnce in Italy, I observed a dinner in a restaurant eating a banana with knife and fork.
Now that’s class.
Also, there was a Seinfeld episode where Elaine’s boss eats a candy bar with knife and fork.
I’m sure SM drinks his JD straight out of the bottle.
…….
Come on man, I have class
I drink it out of a beer mug..
#132 DocInWaitingRoom on 03.18.14 at 10:47 pm
=============================
Agreed; the Norwegians care about their people and ensure the wealth of the land is owned by the people, unlike us.
“Buffalo Humpback Whale”……….LOL classic one :-) should be patented
Poloz (Export Development Canada)
Oliver (Natural Resources)
Harper (Foreign Trade Policy)
These three policy makers all want a lower dollar, and they'll get it. So it's time to start considering moving assets out of Canadian dollars, or else… Chart
And that doesn't mean running into USD assets either, as both are losing value against other key currencies.
In the morning the stock ETF with the ticker symbol ‘UPRO’ was up around $100. But it couldn’t seem to rise much about it, and there was a lot of talk about the Chinese economy falling. Then I took a look at the Canadian dollar and it was dropping like a stone. Normally when the American exchanges are rising or soon will rise, the Canadian dollar is rising strongly, so this was an ominous bad sign. So I decided to play it safe and put in a SELL-STOP at $99 just in case there was some unexpected CRASH. Well, just after 2 pm that’s when the crash came. I checked my trading account and yes, it sold all at $99.11 So I made about 2% over 2 trading days. Practically zero, but at least I didn’t lose anything.
Now I check the markets and UPRO is now at around $97 and heading lower. Like I said earlier; the news coming out of China is not good, not at all.
@225 airhead
Well it isn’t an escape from the weather, but it’s certainly affordable to vegetate at home. Sleep in, play video games. Maybe take the SO for a nice dinner or a night at Niagara Falls.
I’m getting pretty good at lowering my expectations and getting used to the fact that everything is getting expensive at a rate much faster than “inflation.” The problem is it makes it hard to stay motivated at work…
#240 waterloo resident
keep an eye on the baltic dry index good indicator of what is happening in china’s mfg. sector cause everything starts with raw material. 2008 dropped like a rock.
“Lots of racist comments about eating with fingers.
In Africa they do it all the time.”
Yep, been to Morocco, right hand for eating and left hand for another sanitary duty.
took some profits before yellen spoke….nice!
KMI looking tasty…gonna watch it tomorrow.
he’s leaving before the RE crash like mark carney did
#154 Lorne on 03.19.14 at 12:50 am
#100 John on 03.18.14 at 8:44 pm
If you are giving him credit for “realizing the date of debt fueled housing bubble when he implemented borrowing restrictions” you must remember he was the architect of the whole bubble by implementing 40 year/0% mortgages which began the whole parade!
…………….
Exactly.
Deposited my U.S. tax return at RBC
$2,168 U.S. = $2,359.43 CAN
CAN = 1.0883
http://www.hilltimes.com/news/politics/2014/03/19/conservatives-painting-government-of-canada-website-blue-organizing-by-themes/37894
Conservatives painting Government of Canada website blue, organizing by themes not departments, NDP says new look obscuring sensitive facts.
………………….
Another example of obfuscation.
So, Garth, would you run again?
I’m in for $100 to kick-start your campaign.
You hate this blog that much? — Garth
What if you were a smarty-pants contrarian and bought the S&P Index at its bottom five years a go (March 9th) after a fall of over 50% from its peak just a few months earlier?
WSJ video:
http://on.wsj.com/1g76dmu
Mercuria buys JPMorgan commodities unit
Eric Schneiderman is probing high-frequency traders
By Mark DeCambre
Maker-taker rebates
http://qz.com/189483/eric-schneiderman-is-probing-high-frequency-traders-but-he-shouldnt-stop-there/#/h/55250,2/
maximize rebates or serving clients,
Commodity Futures Trading Commission are looking into the rebates exchanges
http://www.cftc.gov/index.htm
Deposited my U.S. tax return at RBC
$2,168 U.S. = $2,359.43 CAN
CAN = 1.0883
——————-
Good for you.
read post from airhead below
“One word – FATCA. Flaherty is leaving before the S&i+ hits the fan after July 1, 2014 (ironically CANADA DAY) which is when the USA’s Foreign Account Tax Compliance Law comes into effect in Canada. One million Canadians living, earning and paying taxes in Canada. who have ‘clingining USA nationality’ (for example were born in USA while their parents were attending college) and their families have pleaded with Flaherty for months, not to sign a deal with the devil, but to no avail.
Starting this Canada Day, banks will start the witch hunt to find all these so-called (according to the USA) tax cheats (your neighbours, co-workers, friends) and hand them over to the IRS for processing. Most will owe no actual taxes, but bankrupting penalties will be calculated based on the value of their bank account balances considered ‘hidden off-shore, tax evading accounts’ by USA. ”
Yes it is an affront to soveriegnty….but it is Canada along with every other nation that trades with the USA. It is a process to be sure…..you must file your TFSA seperatley…..and all the other stuff is just disclosre of assets under an FBAR filing. You’ll have to apply for a SSI…or ETN…whichever you fall under. You can apply for an extension right now if your not ready yet.
The documentation is pretty easy to produce….the highest amount of each bank account during the last fiscal year…..of all acounts held…inc RRSP…RESP…LIRA…Bank Acoounts etc ..regardless of the amounts.
Your right….no taxes payable in most cases…but the penalty for not filing can be as high as $250K in some cases.
Bottom line…unless you have given up your US citizenship you are required to file….like everyone else. Being in Canada doesn’t give you a Disneyland day pass.
#219 happity on 03.19.14 at 12:39 pm
The fallacy that gov can create jobs or boost the economy or have control over anything (economic)…
How did the USA build the most powerful economy from 1800 to 1929 without taxes, computers, TFSA’s, and paper money?
————————————————–
Or the privately owned Federal Reserve
How did the USA build the most powerful economy from 1800 to 1929 without taxes, computers, TFSA’s, and paper money?
Of course there were taxes, mainly import taxes. Property taxes too.
You will find that IMB started before 1929 and that people computed things. In 1850 ther were job positions called “computers”. People who computed.
There was certainly paper money, albeit backed by Gold.
Don’t confuse correlation with causation.
People were “Computors”
Machines that could do the same (and faster) were “Computers”
Paint by numbers:
– End corp income tax
– Bring in a negative income tax (no more welfare progs)
– Drop tariffs (they are working on it)
– No more CMHC mortgages (not 1945 any more)
and on, but that is a good start
@AirHeadPrincess, and SonOfPonzi
Some politicians have used the very myopic argument that USA has the right to determine its own taxation rules. Of course it does, so does Canada, but does USA have the right to impose US taxation rules on Canadian citizens living in Canada who have never earned a dime of US source income? Even if you think so, and I can’t imagine why anyone would, does USA have the right through its taxation laws to prevent some Canadians from effectively planning and saving for their retirement?
This is what FATCA in combination with USA’s unique to the world citizenship-based taxation laws will do to Canadians and their families where one family member is deemed to have ‘US person‘ status.
Who is a ‘US person’ living in Canada? Although you may be a Canadian citizen, FATCA considers you a ‘US person’ if you:
were born in USA even if you left as a young child, and your parents are Canadian!
were born in Canada to one or more American parents, even if you never lived in USA!
regularly visit the USA and meet the substantial presence test
hold a green card
are an American citizen
What Information will FATCA collect?
FATCA requires all Canadian financial institutions to report annually to the IRS ( to be done via the CRA as outlined in the recently signed IGA) on details of a variety of bank accounts with focus being on account balances.
What happens if I am married to a ‘US person’?
If you have joint accounts with your ‘US person’ spouse, those accounts will be subject to FATCA reporting regardless who actually earned the money inside those accounts.
What will USA do with the bank account balances of Canadians who are ‘US persons’ or share accounts with a ‘US person’?
The vast majority of Canadians living in Canada with ‘US person’ status are unaware that USA law requires them to submit annual ‘Foreign Bank Account Reports’ (FBAR) detailing bank accounts held in Canada which are considered ‘foreign’ despite being held by a Canadian living in Canada. Financially devastating penalties are imposed for failure to file FBARs. The IRS will use the information it gets from the CRA to verify against FBAR reports, and will then assess devastating penalties for non reporting of these so-called ‘foreign’ accounts. Penalty calculations were devised as punishment for homeland Americans hiding untaxed money offshore, so they are very harsh, and are applied with no consideration as to whether or not the ‘US person’ is a Canadian living in Canada or an American living in USA.
Besides, penalties for not reporting my so-called ‘foreign’ accounts here in Canada, what are the taxation and retirement planning implications of being a Canadian living in Canada with ‘US person’ status?
Although there is an exemption of approximately $97,000 of earned income called the Foreign Earned Income Exclusion (FEIE) which provides relief from double taxation of the first $97,000 of Canadian earned income, the key is that it applies only to EARNED income. Non-earned sources of income are not subject to the FEIE. Thus Canadians with ‘US person’ status will be taxed by USA on the following sources of Canadian sourced income: disability benefits, unemployment insurance benefits, pension income, investment income, etc. Thus low-income people and retirees are double taxed on non-earned income which for most retirees is the bulk of their income.
Most retirees count on the sale of their principal residence to help them in their retirement, and in Canada we do not tax capital gains from the sale of one’s principal residence. This is not the case in the USA. Canadians with ‘US person’ status will be taxed by USA on the capital gains from the sale of their home in Canada, subject to a 250K exemption.
Canadians with ‘US person’ status who have invested their savings in Canadian mutual funds will be subject to the dreaded ‘passive foreign income corporation’ rules which will make their investments expensive liabilities.
In addition, TFSAs, RESPs, and RDSPs do not have the tax exempt status afforded to RRSPs. Even RRSPs are not tax exempt for the year unless a special form is filled out every year. Don’t be fooled by the government pumping the FATCA IGA as a good deal because TFSA’s, RESPs, RDSPs, RRSPs and other registered accounts are not FATCA reportable; this does NOT make them exempt from USA taxation and reporting requirements. One has to wonder if our government is actually facilitating US tax evasion on the one hand, while enforcing US citizenship based taxation on the other.
US imposed citizenship-based taxation laws mean it is impossible for a Canadian living in Canada with ‘US person’ status to effectively save for their retirement, or for the education of their children, or for the care-taking of their disabled children.
Why can’t a Canadian with ‘US person’ status just renounce their US citizenship, and avoid FATCA reporting, FBAR penalties, double taxation, and restrictions on retirement planning?
Most Canadians with ‘US person’ status who have lived for decades in Canada were unaware that USA considered them to be US taxpayers. This is not difficult to imagine, because citizenship-based taxation is counter to international taxation norms, and not intuitive. It just plain does not make sense, and is unfair to tax someone who does not live in a country and does not earn in that country, just because they were born there. Many consider this a human rights violation and a form of slavery. Only one other country in the world has citizenship-based taxation – Eritrea, a dictatorship in Africa.
So, getting back to the answering the above question, a Canadian with ‘US person’ status cannot relieve themselves of their US tax obligations by renouncing US citizenship. The renunciation process includes a promise that the ‘US person’ either is, or will become tax compliant for the prior 5 years. Getting up to date on past tax returns and FBARS is complex, expensive, and comes with risk of penalties for prior non-filing.
SUMMARY: FATCA is an American law which would be unenforceable in Canada, without the cooperation of the Canadian government. FATCA will be used to enforce American laws on Canadians, thus violating our sovereign right as a country to govern our own citizens. FATCA will be used to enforce immoral citizenship based taxation laws that run counter to the international norm of residence based taxation.
FATCA in combination with citizenship-based taxation will ruin the financial lives of Canadian families who have one family member with ‘US person’ status. FATCA will cause Canadians of retirement age, who have saved and planned for their retirement to become reliant on Canadian government handouts, rather than their hard earned money which will be siphoned off by the USA in the form of mostly penalties (relative to taxes owed) assessed on Canadian earned, already highly taxed money.
Please reconsider your view on FATCA and citizenship based taxation imposed by USA on Canada, and all countries in the world. It is too simple just to say, ‘USA has the right to make its own taxation laws’. The picture is much more complicated than that. If USA had a law that prevented women from driving, would it be OK for USA to tell Canada that Canadian women with ‘US person’ status could not drive in Canada?
@AirHeadPrincess, Yes you are
@SonOfPonzi, You have no clue.
One million Canadians are in, or will soon be in total emotional and financial meltdown. No other country in the world, except USA, considers people who live and earn outside its jurisdictions to be taxpayers based on an accident of birth.
And most of these one million Canadians are not even aware of this. Why would they be? It is not intuitive. No other country does this, and USA did not go out of its way to advertise its uniqueness. In fact, most Americans have no clue that their country is unique in that it has citizenship based taxation. Americans do not learn this in school. Certainly Canadians do not learn this in school. If homeland Americans are not aware of this, why should a Canadian with Canadian parents, who happened to have been born in USA, know this?
Your lack of empathy for your Canadian neighbours, co workers and friends is disturbing. Do you have any idea what is involved in bending over and becoming IRS compliant for someone who is say over 40 and has lived the life of a Canadian for decades (and is in fact Canadian)?
Do you know that a Canadian mutual fund (besides being worthless as Garth points out) is a ‘passive foreign income corporation’ according to the IRS, and subject to the most punitive taxation and reporting requirements known to mankind. Seriously, google PFICS.
It is NOT a simple process to just walk into the IRS net at age 40+ never having been there before. It is a legal, and accounting nightmare!
And for what? To pay allegiance to a country whose soil you were born on regardless if you left there before you could even speak.
I am boggled when people do not get the discrimination associated with what the USA is attempting to do to US born people with other citizenships living and paying taxes in other countries in the world.
I thought Canada was a bastion of human rights. Apparently I was wrong. Apparently F doesn’t think so either.
@SonOfPonzi,
Ooops my mistake, I should have ‘given up my US citizenship’. I just thought USA was where I was born, I had no clue I was supposed to ‘give it up’ or be f*&k$d later in life. My bad. Too bad, so sad, now I cannot ‘give it up’ without spending a fortune on accounting fees (and probably legal fees as well), and risking penalties (HUGE ONES) for not reporting my ‘foreign’ accounts up the street from where I live. I will just bend over now and take it.
@SonOfPonzi re: “being in Canada does not give me a Disneyland day pass”.
How rude! I have never even been to Disney land. I can count on one hand the number of times I have crossed the border into the United States. I am Canadian God damn it!
@Airheadprincess,
re:”the documentation is easy to produce”. You have no idea what you are talking about. I do not even work (my spouse is the breadwinner), but I have received quotes from accountants for average 2-3k per year for US tax returns. I need to do 5 years of past compliance to ‘give up US citizenship’ because IRS will not let you go unless you have 5 years past tax reporting compliance. I was an ignorant Canadian, (with clinging US nationality) who did EVERYTHING wrong living life as a normal Canadian which is toxic if you are an ‘American’. Filing forms as someone living OUTSIDE the USA is nowhere near as simple as someone living INSIDE the USA. RRSPs, RESPs, TFSAs are ‘foreign trusts’ with complicated filing requirements and taxation issues (multiplied for each such investment account; I have multiple rrsps and 3 kids each with RESPs). Canadian mutual funds are toxic. The accountants I talked to said I should sell them, and that I would have to pay the bank to get the info I needed to properly report them, not to mention the punitive tax complications as USA punishes everything foreign. Every buy/sell of a Canadian mutual fund kicks off reporting and taxation issues. I kid you not, the accounting is beyond unbelievable. If USA would say, ‘hey, you wanna be an American, do this, or else say audios’, I would say ‘audios’ in a heartbeat, but they will not let us go.
Contrast this to Texas Senator Ted Cruz, who had no clue he was a Canadian having been born in Canada, and only has to pay 200 bucks to get rid of his Canadian citizenship (no filing, no PFICS, no accountants, no lawyers, no risk of life altering penalties for not reporting his ‘foreign’ (aka local) bank accounts to Canada. What a joke.
I hope YOU, do not find yourself in a no easy way out pickle some day through no fault of your own. Cause you know what they say….first they came for my neighbour, then they came for my friend, then they came for me and there was no one left to help me….
Hey Garth,
I made a post about this post over at isaacbrocksociety.ca. I hope you don’t mind. You are not exactly famous, but apparently some of us from over there, come here, once in awhile, and you know, we can all learn from each other.
Ooops, I forgot to give you the link:
http://isaacbrocksociety.ca/2014/03/19/garth-turner-says-goodbye-to-f-fatca-comes-up-in-the-comments/
#48 Spiltbongwater on 03.18.14 at 7:08 pm – said
“I can understand eating bacon with your fingers, but ….. ”
Sunny side up, doused in bacon fat to finish the top and yet barely cooked. Finger lickin’ good !!
WhiteKat is spot on with her information regarding FATCA and the out-dated, overreaching and onerous tax regime of the USA called citizenship-based taxation (CBT). There’s a big world outside the borders of the USA (even if Americans can only see it as a collection of targets — when they bother looking, that is) and the whole world uses residence-based taxation (RBT). (Eritrea is the only exception with its relatively benign 2% “diaspora tax”.) Now anyone in their right mind would conclude that RBT is the international norm but that doesn’t phase Americans one bit. Nope, they are “exceptional” and their way is the only way. After all, might makes right. As a result, their US citizens and what they call “US persons” who live outside the Magic Kingdom are made to suffer big time at tax time. The only escape is to renounce their citizenship — providing they are totally tax compliant and have another citizenship so they won’t become stateless. It’s a dog’s breakfast of paperwork to achieve the prize of being able to file only one set of taxes annually like everyone else in the country where they have made their home. They yearn for the “privilege” of serving only one tax master, instead of two tax masters using two different tax play books. (The US tax code is 73,000 pages — biggest tax play book in the world — and it keeps getting bigger every year.)
FATCA has added a whole new and even more demonic dimension to the plight of the USA’s CBT victims. Two years ago Flaherty had harsh words against FATCA but on February 5th he was reduced to a whimper after signing an inter-governmental agreement (IGA) with the USA to assure the implementation of FATCA in Canada on the highly significant date of July 1, 2014. Now Flaherty has resigned leaving Canada to celebrate its birthday this year by blowing the living daylights out of the financial privacy of 1 million Canadian residents with the misfortune of having a US connection. After Canada Day, the CRA becomes an office of the IRS and all the financial institutions in Canada become IRS agents. Every year these “IRS agents” will send a detailed report on the accounts of any client they suspect of being a “US person” to the CRA “IRS office” and from there it will be sent to the IRS who will share it with every 3-letter US agency who wants it (NSA, DHS, TSA, FBI, CIA, etc.). A “US person” might as well just place a full page ad in a national US newspaper to reveal their Canadian banks, account numbers, account balances and account transactions. So bye-bye Mr. “F” and forgive us if we’re not too grateful for leaving us with an “F” bomb called FATCA.
I am so happy that F is out. Now Harper needs to go too. The bunch in Government seem to have no respect for Canada’s Sovereignty and Charter of Rights. Nor do they seem to understand how much money (in the form of compliance costs and penalties … though not so much tax perhaps except on what are supposed to be tax deferred savings vehicles which the IRS do not recognize as such) will be sucked out of Canada due to the FATCA IGA they are pushing. The Conservatives are probably in their last term in office … for a century or more. So sad in my view as I am conservative in political terms … or was …..
Mr F knew he was selling Canada out to the US by agreeing to the FATCA-IGA. With the barrage of incoming opposition from constitutional lawyers and affected citizens the heat in the kitchen was getting a little hot. The wholesale sellout of Canada might not look great when ones legacy is written. Now that he is “out” I hope he has the courage to speak the truth. Being a legislator with integrity would be memorable when the history books are written.