Finance committee  Right, and that's why I suggested that it could be implemented, but at least on a temporary basis, and only with respect to U.S. citizens who are temporarily resident in Canada, as Ms. Swanson said.

Finance committee  Potentially, that's the case, yes.

Finance committee  That's simply not accurate. I mentioned dual citizens. As just one example, let's say an honourable member retires after years of good service to their country, and you take a six-month contract in New York City with a consulting service, let's say. It's a wonderful job opportuni

Finance committee  Yes, that is correct.

Finance committee  Well, no.... I mean it's certainly a fair statement, but it's slightly different, I think, from the first thing you put forward. I'm suggesting, and I think my colleague, Professor Christians, is as well, that by entering into the IGA we are in compliance. That has bought us tim

Finance committee  We signed it.

Finance committee  Well, then, perhaps our answer should be, “Why don't you implement it through your legislative process as well, and then once that's done we'll implement it?” The Americans, again, have promised reciprocity. There's very little chance, most experts suggest, of the U.S. Congress e

Finance committee  No, I think that the Canadian government could negotiate at this point a delay of the whole process. Again, we're in compliance currently with U.S. demands. I understand that the government feels it's caught between a rock and a hard place, but there may be wiggle room to delay t

Finance committee  Yes, I would agree with that. I have heard from some government officials that we were offered a concession in that these wouldn't be reportable accounts, retirement accounts. But, in fact, in the U.S. model 1 IGA, they're offering that exemption of retirement accounts to every s

Finance committee  Certain information is collected by the CRA. Under domestic law, the banks have to send information, say on interest income, and they use that to calculate a Canadian taxpayer's tax liability, but the IGA changes that regime, as I mentioned in my opening remarks. Now, a foreign g

Finance committee  They're treating us as they're treating the Cayman Islands. I don't think we'll become the Cayman Islands. One of the interesting features of the U.S. reform is there's absolutely zero evidence that the Canadian financial system is being used to assist Americans with offshore ta

Finance committee  It is my view. This is a very dangerous precedent. Again, it's based on a model IGA. It's the same one the Americans use for Luxembourg and the Cayman Islands, and every tax haven in the world the Americans are trying to sign up. We have a unique cross-border relationship, more

Finance committee  I'm not sure what—

Finance committee  Thank you for the question. Yes, I would agree with those constitutional law experts who suggest the IGA violates the charter, more specifically section 15, the prohibition against discrimination on the basis of national origin or citizenship. We're really creating two different

Finance committee  Canada is protected at the federal level by a piece of legislation called PIPEDA, the Personal Information Protection Electronic Documents Act. It governs the information collection practices of all private businesses within Canada, including financial institutions such as Canadi