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Bringing about a higher level of transparency and accountability in provincial and federal governments to help protect taxpayers from abuse

Bringing about a higher level of transparency and accountability in provincial and federal governments to help protect taxpayers from abuse.

Canada Revenue Agency’s landlord stashed money in offshore tax havens 

The federal government agency tasked with cracking down on offshore tax avoidance rents its offices from a corporate group that has moved hundreds of millions of dollars into tax havens. Three Canada Revenue Agency offices — in Calgary, Edmonton and Montreal — were sold in 2007 in a controversial sale and leaseback arrangement to Larco Investments Inc., a company privately held by Vancouver’s reclusive Lalji family.

Source: Canada Revenue Agency’s landlord stashed money in offshore tax havens | Toronto Star

Shadowy publisher of Canadian medical journals retracts ‘steaming pile of dung’

OTTAWA – Even the bad apples in the publishing business don’t like to be caught committing fraud so shameless that one person called it a “steaming pile of dung.”

Last week, the Ottawa Sun exposed scientific fraud by the new owners of two Canadian medical publishing firms — printing fake research for cash.

Now, after the news got international publicity, the company that published our trashy little fake study is retracting it.

Source: Shadowy publisher of Canadian medical journals retracts ‘steaming pile of dung’ CANOE

Five companies charged in telephone scam that targeted Canadians, Americans

They bought Internet phone devices in bulk, used thousands of prepaid debit cards to launder money from North America to India and left behind elderly victims who were bullied into forking over thousands of dollars.

U.S. authorities announced on Thursday that they had charged 56 people and five companies operating call centres in India in a case that offers a peek into a widespread telephone scam that has swindled millions of dollars from people in Canada and the United States.

While the allegations unveiled on Thursday do not mention Canada, the indictment says the victims were “in the U.S. and elsewhere.”

An RCMP spokeswoman said the force believes there might be a Canadian connection.

“Victims have reported that at times a caller would identify themselves as [an Internal Revenue Service] agent to the victim, and then change tactics when he/she realized that in Canada there is no IRS,” Sergeant Penny Hermann told The Globe and Mail on Thursday in response to a question.

Source: http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/national/five-companies-charged-in-international-telephone-scam/article32562168/

How a moose tax can help B.C. wildlife conservation

Is it time for a moose tax?

Faced with declining game populations and the increasing complexities of wildlife management, people are starting to look at new funding models.

And a tax to help moose and other game animals might be one way to go.

A few years ago, in response to growing concerns that British Columbia’s moose numbers were in decline, the provincial government conducted 20 population surveys. The results were troubling. While in some places numbers were stable, in many regions moose numbers had declined by 50 per cent to 70 per cent.

Word quickly spread among the hunting community about which areas held the fewest moose, and soon there was a pile-on in regions that still had good numbers. That caused alarm in some First Nations communities, where people saw outsiders coming in to shoot moose that local families needed for winter food.

Source: http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/british-columbia/how-a-moose-tax-can-help-bc-wildlife-conservation/article32487113/

Fewer threatening calls from fake tax agents because of arrests in India

Canadians are receiving fewer scam phone calls from fake Canada Revenue Agency agents demanding money, but must still be wary of fraudsters despite the lull, the RCMP said in a statement on Friday.

The drop in calls is likely the result of arrests in Thane, India, on Oct. 5. Authorities in India arrested about 70 people from a call centre and questioned hundreds of other call-centre employees.

People in Canada and the U.S. have been plagued by aggressive callers claiming to be tax agency officials. Reading from a script, they accuse their victims of owing large amounts in back taxes and threaten to have them arrested.

Initial reports said the arrests in India were linked to U.S. Internal Revenue Service scams, but the RCMP has since discovered they were also involved with calls into Canada.

Complaints about Canada Revenue Agency scam calls “significantly decreased to a small fraction of what was reported for the weeks and months leading up to these arrests,” the RCMP said.

“Though the reports have diminished, it does not necessarily mean that this scam has stopped.”

The scam callers have also pretended to be immigration agents and police officers.

Source: http://www.timescolonist.com/news/fewer-threatening-calls-from-fake-tax-agents-because-of-arrests-in-india-1.2371613

Why Canadian Club is cheaper in America: A product-by-product look at the U.S.-Canada price gap

Canadian shoppers live with the fear that whenever they buy something, an American to the south is probably buying it cheaper. But an investigation of the so-called cross-border “price gap” reveals a murky world where some items are pricier, some things are cheaper — and it’s not always clear why.Below, a maddening product-by-product journey into the phenomenon that everyone hates, but nobody understands.

From Bellingham, Wash. to Champlain, N.Y., the United States’ northern border is filled with towns whose primary industry is servicing the whims of Canadian shoppers. One of the top sellers in these towns? Tires. Depending on the model, it can cost up to 50 per cent more to swap them out in Canada versus doing it in the U.S. According to the Tire Dealer Association of Canada, it’s all due to “country pricing.” There is no import tariff to bring U.S.-made tires into Canada, but Canadians retailers say that their supplier contracts with tire makers force them to buy from Canadian affiliates who charge inflated Canada-specific prices. “In the end it’s the Canadian tire consumer who gets gouged by higher tire prices,” wrote the Association in 2013. But as with many things on this list, there is no blanket rule. A Bridgestone Ecopia EP422 Plus goes for $112.99 at a typical Canadian Costco. Head to the Bellingham, WA Costco, meanwhile, and you’ll pay $125.05.

Source: http://news.nationalpost.com/news/canada/why-canadian-club-is-cheaper-in-america-a-product-by-product-look-at-the-u-s-canada-price-gap

Swiss bank says Vancouver’s housing bubble hazard unmatched on the planet

According to a report by Swiss bank UBS, when it comes to overpriced real estate, Vancouver’s “bubble risk” is unmatched on the planet.
According to the UBS Global Real Estate Bubble Index released this week, the ascent in Vancouver’s average housing costs with the growth in average wages, rents and other economic factors make it the destined to encounter a sudden descending rectification compared with 17 other vast cities around the world. The report likewise cautioned that investors are less inclined to see growth in property value in high “bubble risk” cities.

Source: http://hibusiness.ca/2016/10/14/swiss-bank-says-vancouvers-housing-bubble-hazard-unmatched-on-the-planet/

Canada’s dependence on housing looks a lot like the U.S. in 2005

Canada’s dependence on housing appears to be as stretched as it was in the U.S back in 2005, and the degree to which new mortgages rely on risky borrowers is equally as troubling, a new report warns.

David, Doyle, Canadian economist and strategist at Macquarie Capital Markets, tracked residential investments as a share of GDP in both countries. He found that the standard deviation from the long- term average in Canada from 2001 to 2006, is similar to what took place in the U.S between 1991 and 2006.

Based on this analysis, Canada is poised for a sharp downturn if it continues to track the U.S.

Doyle noted that the surge in Canadian residential investment has been driven by broker commissions and transfer costs, much like the U.S. market as it approached a late-2005 peak.

He also highlighted the rising share of mortgages with loan-to-income ratios above 450 per cent, particularly in Toronto and Vancouver

Source: http://business.financialpost.com/investing/trading-desk/canadas-dependence-on-housing-looks-a-lot-like-the-u-s-in-2005?__lsa=0d5b-836b

Health Canada Looks to Raise the Bar for Regulating Natural Health Products 

A controversial new proposal from Health Canada would add new regulatory scrutiny for natural health products and bring them in line with higher scientific standards used to regulate over-the-counter drugs.The proposal, unveiled in late September, would cover the three buckets of health products and group them together as part of new regulations for “self-care products,” which is part of the regulator’s wider effort to refocus the approval of health claims based on scientific proof.

Source: Health Canada Looks to Raise the Bar for Regulating Natural Health Products | RAPS

Legal experts defend mental health laws after Jeff Weber ruling 

A case involving a 32-year-old Ottawa man with treatment-resistant schizophrenia who was found not criminally responsible on Thursday for a brutal hammer attack is raising questions about the law and the mental health system. The ruling marked the fourth time Jeff Weber has been declared NCR — believed to be a Canadian record.

Source: Legal experts defend mental health laws after Jeff Weber ruling – Ottawa – CBC News