Sign Petition to Protest British Columbia Legislation to Impose Police State Gags on

Written by Paul Fromm

Monday, 28 May 2012 04:26

Sign Petition to Protest British Columbia Legislation to Impose Police State Gags on Discussion of Health Threats in Ag and Fish Farms Paul here is the latest information from Alexandra Morton. Hello In response to the hundreds of you who wrote me about proposed Bill 37 http://www.leg.bc.ca/39th4th/votes/bills-list_hansard.htm that would make disease reporting a punishable offense, I have set up a petition at http://www.change.org/SalmonFlu By working with change.org we have the opportunity to reach the world. Because not everyone on earth is as attached to wild salmon as we are, I raised the human health aspect of this that has been dangerously over-looked. So many people, particularly my First Nation family and friends, are asking me about what these viruses are doing to us. I don't know, but several nurses and doctors have taken me aside after lectures a to share their concerns that influenza viruses are unpredictable and nasty. So I have simply asked COSTCO and Safeway to label farm salmon with the viruses in them, because the BC Government has chosen to make disease reporting punishable. If Minister Don McRae gets his way and silences me and others, there is no way we will ever know what viruses are spilling into BC waters. The epidemic in Clayoquot has been quickly followed by announcements that the Ahlstrom site near Sechelt Inlet, owned by Grieg and stocked with coho is being "quarantined" for a viral outbreak, as well as, farms in the US. I have no idea how big this is going to get. I have no reason to believe any of the reports that this is IHN, we have not seen a single test result, but either way IHN is not good news. Please donate to http://www.gofundme.com/SalmonDiseaseTestingFund if you want to participate in the testing or in the legal fees depending which way this thing goes. I am updating my blog frequently to keep people informed about the epidemics alexandramorton.typepad.com Please do everything you can to distribute the change.org petition. We clearly have no impact on the BC government - but COSTCO and Safeway will. Thank you, alex

 

Foreign (Asian & Middle Eastern) Tax-evading Speculators Making Toronto & Vancouver C

Written by Paul Fromm

Sunday, 27 May 2012 03:56

*Foreign (Asian & Middle Eastern) Tax-evading Speculators Making Toronto & Vancouver Condos Unaffordable for Canadians* Diane Francis <http://opinion.financialpost.com/category/diane-francis/> Taxpayers also victims of ‘hot money’ behind Canada’s condo bubbles Diane Francis <http://opinion.financialpost.com/author/dianefrancis/> May 4, 2012 – 2:38 PM ET | *Last Updated: May 4, 2012 3:01 PM ET* [image: National Post] *National Post* The condo bubbles in Toronto and Vancouver are caused by foreign speculation and are making housing unaffordable and creating financial risk for the country in terms of government-insured mortgages. But there’s another issue of vital concern to taxpayers. There are three times more condo high-rises being built in Toronto than in New York City and seven times’ more than in Chicago. This boom is not the market at work, but is manipulation by “hot money” from abroad. “I have come across something that I find astonishing, and which amounts to systemic tax fraud by investors, mostly foreign, on a massive scale,” wrote an investor involved in the industry. **He explained how it works: 1. Foreigners sign an agreement of purchase for a condo unit, or for 50 at a time, and put down a 5% deposit. This buys a right to buy the unit in future at a fixed price. In financial markets, this is known as a derivative. 2. Many developers include in the agreement of purchase the right to “assign” this right to buy at a fixed price. In financial markets, this is called creating a futures market. This assignment of a right to buy at a fixed price turns buyers into speculators (unless they want to move in or rent out the unit) who are set up to flip the units for a profit as prices are pushed upwards. *The Australians were victims of the same shenanigans and shut it down and now Canada must too* 3. Some developers, and intermediaries, are in the business of helping speculators flip their rights and pocket a fee for doing so. For instance, Mr. X from Asia pays $15,000 for the right to buy a $300,000 condo, then, when the price of similar units rise to $400,000, he can assign the right, get his deposit back and make the $100,000 difference. There is a frenzy of this speculation going on which makes prices escalate so rights can be bought and resold over and over again before a building is completed. 4. The paperwork for these agreements is kept in-house and my source said one intermediary told him that there are no T-5s issued to the speculator or to the Canada Revenue Agency, something that stock and futures market intermediaries must do so that taxes can be paid on the $100,000 trading profits. Instead, the profits vanish, possibly along with the paperwork, and taxes paid will be by the end user if they buy, rent out the unit and make a capital gain down the road. <http://ad.ca.doubleclick.net/click%3Bh%3Dv8/3c82/3/0/%2a/o%3B256068708%3B0-0%3B0%3B80547380%3B4307-300/250%3B47735940/47751368/1%3B%3B~aopt%3D2/2/ee/1%3B~sscs%3D%3fhttp://www.ibelieveit.ca> “[Condo] brokers tell me I can flip my assignment and pay no tax and there is no paper trail. They say we do it all day long,” said the investor who asked to remain anonymous. Under CRA rules, foreigners making Canadian-sourced income are fully taxable by the federal and provincial governments. In Ontario or BC, the total tax bill would be 46% or $46,000 in tax for $100,000 profit. The unpaid taxes could be staggering, said a real estate agent. In Toronto, 20,000 condo units have been sold each year for the past five years. Let’s assume one-quarter were sold to foreign speculators who flipped the assignment and made $100,000 profit without paying taxes. Their Canadian-sourced income would total $500 million a year, and they would owe 46% of that in taxes or $230 million. Most condo developers may not be involved in this game, but a few – notably developers with Asian and Middle East owners or backers and buildings located in downtown areas – certainly are. So this is what must happen. As I argued last week, Ottawa must forbid the purchase by foreigners of any residences in Canada as Australia did in 2010 after foreign speculation and tax evasion damaged its housing market. The Canada Revenue Agency should send in auditors to the lawyers and intermediaries and developers who have the lists of those who signed agreements of purchase. If they did not close on those deals, and the deals sold for more money than the agreements, then auditors must work backwards and assess income taxes. The Ontario and other securities commissions should get involved because what is happening, if these reports hold true, is that an unregulated financial futures market is being created using and abusing Canadian residential properties as vehicles. Likewise, the federal and provincial government tax collectors should get involved. If speculators who owe taxes are long gone – many of them are offshore funds that buy out entire buildings then sell units abroad – then the intermediaries and developers should pay the taxes. This frenzy is forcing prices upwards. Meanwhile, condos in the suburbs often take months to sell because buyers want them as homes, not as convenient money machines to flip. The investor who described the tax shenanigans took his information to several politicians and called the CRA hotline, but got nowhere. Tax officials said they needed specific names and addresses to investigate, but this is beyond a simple case. This requires a task force to look into this. A realtor said ordinary foreigners are buying from “funds” that are bundling units in Toronto and promising huge returns. “Foreigners have been lured into so-called investment products, property units, with promises of high yields,” wrote this real estate professional. “They are often small investors who go to property seminars overseas. Many of these buildings do not allow Canadians to buy these units, obviously because of the tax implications.” The Australians were victims of the same shenanigans and shut it down and now Canada must too. Posted in: Diane Francis<http://opinion.financialpost.com/category/diane-francis/> <http://opinion.financialpost.com/author/dianefrancis/>

 

British Columbia Wants to Impose Police State Gags on Discussion of Health Threats in

Written by Paul Fromm

Saturday, 26 May 2012 06:56

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------- This email newsletter was sent to you in graphical HTML format. If you're seeing this version, your email program prefers plain text emails. You can read the original version online: http://ymlp339.net/z5WwHi -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- BRITISH COLUMBIA WANTS TO IMPOSE POLICE STATE GAGS ON DISCUSSION OF HEALTH THREATS IN AG AND FISH FARMS What's the problem with governments? Do they gain power and then seek to assume total power over the groaning taxpayers who fund them? Apparently, this is so in British Columbia. "B.C.'s Liberal government is poised to further choke off the flow of public information, this time with respect to disease outbreaks. The Animal Health Act, expected to be passed into law by month's end, expressly over-rides B.C.'s Freedom of Information Act, duct-taping shut the mouths of any citizens - or journalists - who would publicly identify the location of an outbreak of agriculture-related disease such as the deadly bird flu. 'A person must refuse, despite the Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act, to disclose . . . information that would reveal that a notifiable or reportable disease is or may be present in a specific place or on or in a specific vehicle,' Section 16 of the Act reads. It is quite conceivable that the provincial government, in the event of a disease outbreak at a farm, would delay releasing a warning in order to protect the farm in question or the industry it's part of. In that event, should you as a citizen hear about the outbreak, or if you were an employee at an affected farm, you would be breaking the law by speaking publicly about it or bringing concerns to the media." (The Province, May 22, 2012) The idea that a person reporting a concern about an agricultural illness or a disease on a fish farm would face a provincial gag backed up by hefty fines and/or imprisonment is outrageous. There should be riots of anger to defy those tyrants who would dare silence their fellow citizens. We have for years challenged Canadians to show thier thirst for freedom by protesting and defying those tyrants who would dare silence them, Yes, of course, it would be wrong to spread false rumours about health threats on farms or fish farms,. Surely, though, the laws of libel and slander, strict as they are in Canada, are more than adequate to deal with any bad faith writings of that sort. The Province report continues: "Citizens or journalists breaking the Animal Health Act but not charged with an offence can be slapped with 'administrative penalties,' which are fines. And the legislation contains an additional attack on rights of citizens: if you don't pay your fine, a government representative simply files a paper in court that is the same, according to Sec. 80(2) of the Act, 'as if it were a judgment of the court with which it is filed.' Except for the absence of a judge or any semblance of due process. Ultimately, this legislation aims to protect businesses from disclosure of information that may harm their financial interests. As B.C. Freedom of Information commissioner Elizabeth Denham revealed in a letter to provincial Agriculture Minister Don McRae, his ministry has expressed concern that the province's legal protection of "'hird-party business interests . . . does not adequately protect information related to farmers engaged in animal-health programs or subject to disease-management actions.' Ministry employees, animal-health inspectors and laboratory employees are specifically barred from disclosing information about farm-disease outbreaks. Denham noted that it's extremely rare for a law to override freedom of information legislation. The Animal Health Act removes "the public's right to access various records regarding animal testing, including actions and reports relating to animal-disease management," Den-ham wrote. The Animal Health Act would override another provincial law, the Offence Act. While the Offence Act caps punishment at a $2,000 fine and six months in jail for offences not drawing higher penalties in other legislation, the Animal Health Act says that section of the Offence Act doesn't apply, and lays out a punishment regime with penal-ties reaching to $75,000 fines and two years in prison. The offence of failing to keep information confidential falls among the violations drawing the highest penalties." Paul Fromm Director CANADIAN ASSOCIATION FOR FREE EXPRESSION B.C. LAW TO BAN INFORMATION ON FARM OUTBREAKS OVERRIDES FREEDOM OF INFORMATION LAW, CARRIES STIFF PENALTY By Ethan Baron, The Province May 22, 2012 ETHAN BARON PHOTOGRAPH BY: GINGER SEDLAROVA , THE PROVINCE B.C.'s Liberal government is poised to further choke off the flow of public information, this time with respect to disease outbreaks. The Animal Health Act, expected to be passed into law by month's end, expressly over-rides B.C.'s Freedom of Information Act, duct-taping shut the mouths of any citizens - or journalists - who would publicly identify the location of an outbreak of agriculture-related disease such as the deadly bird flu. "A person must refuse, despite the Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act, to disclose . . . information that would reveal that a notifiable or reportable disease is or may be present in a specific place or on or in a specific vehicle," Section 16 of the Act reads. It is quite conceivable that the provincial government, in the event of a disease outbreak at a farm, would delay releasing a warning in order to protect the farm in question or the industry it's part of. In that event, should you as a citizen hear about the outbreak, or if you were an employee at an affected farm, you would be breaking the law by speaking publicly about it or bringing concerns to the media. Citizens or journalists breaking the Animal Health Act but not charged with an offence can be slapped with "administrative penalties," which are fines. And the legislation contains an additional attack on rights of citizens: if you don't pay your fine, a government representative simply files a paper in court that is the same, according to Sec. 80(2) of the Act, "as if it were a judgment of the court with which it is filed." Except for the absence of a judge or any semblance of due process. Ultimately, this legislation aims to protect businesses from disclosure of information that may harm their financial interests. As B.C. Freedom of Information commissioner Elizabeth Denham revealed in a letter to provincial Agriculture Minister Don McRae, his ministry has expressed concern that the province's legal protection of "third-party business interests . . . does not adequately protect information related to farmers engaged in animal-health programs or subject to disease-management actions." Ministry employees, animal-health inspectors and laboratory employees are specifically barred from disclosing information about farm-disease outbreaks. Denham noted that it's extremely rare for a law to override freedom of information legislation. The Animal Health Act removes "the public's right to access various records regarding animal testing, including actions and reports relating to animal-disease management," Den-ham wrote. The Animal Health Act would override another provincial law, the Offence Act. While the Offence Act caps punishment at a $2,000 fine and six months in jail for offences not drawing higher penalties in other legislation, the Animal Health Act says that section of the Offence Act doesn't apply, and lays out a punishment regime with penal-ties reaching to $75,000 fines and two years in prison. The offence of failing to keep information confidential falls among the violations drawing the highest penalties. _____________________________ Unsubscribe / Change Profile: http://ymlp339.net/ugmjhqsqgsgbbqgmyhgguewwmw Powered by YourMailingListProvider