PM Justin Trudeau's Canada

[evandyk]

Heck, even foreign tax evasion is now a tenant burden:

Foreign landlord fails to pay taxes, CRA goes after tenant

A Montreal tenant was audited and ordered to pay the tax he had failed to withhold on the monthly rent to his non-resident landlord

www.theglobeandmail.com

Lots of people up in arms over this story, but it's not quite what the papers portray it as. This guy's numbered corporation was paying his rent on his behalf (probably part of some tax avoidance strategy) and the company got audited, leading the CRA to throw the book at him. The guy himself (ie the human person living in the apartment) was never even liable for the tax, except to the extent that his interests align with the corporation he was trying to use to avoid paying taxes.

 

[evandyk]

The moral of the story is that if you are using a numbered corporation to pay your residential rent on your behalf so that you don't have to pay it out out of post-tax income, you'd better be squeaky clean about it.

Which is not to say that the rule as drafted is good - it would allow the government to come after individual human renters for foreign tax evasion that they know nothing about. The government shouldn't do that, but it's not what they did here.

 

[afransen]

Lots of people up in arms over this story, but it's not quite what the papers portray it as. This guy's numbered corporation was paying his rent on his behalf (probably part of some tax avoidance strategy) and the company got audited, leading the CRA to throw the book at him. The guy himself (ie the human person living in the apartment) was never even liable for the tax, except to the extent that his interests align with the corporation he was trying to use to avoid paying taxes.

Wow, this is a very important detail. There are observers I respect like Mike Moffat and Ben Rabidoux decrying this story. It is very important context to include that this was a related party tax avoidance situation, not an innocent tenant.

 

[evandyk]

He said he was having his corporation pay the rent on his behalf because it was administratively convenient. Sure. Here's a link to the case if you're interested:

https://canlii.ca/t/jwg9p

 

[kEiThZ]

Which is not to say that the rule as drafted is good - it would allow the government to come after individual human renters for foreign tax evasion that they know nothing about. The government shouldn't do that, but it's not what they did here.

And this is the key point regardless of the exact details of this case. There should be no situation where a tenant is ever liable for ensuring the tax remittance of their landlord. The fact that this was possible is a failure of policy and law.

 

[evandyk]

It didn't happen here. A numbered corporation was liable for the tax. The tenant who was on the lease and living in the unit was never held liable for a cent of it.

They should change the rule. But there's a reason nobody has ever heard of a tenant being held liable for the tax payable by their foreign landlord, which is that it has probably never happened.

 

[gabe]

Trudeau is going to utterly destroy the consensus on immigration with policies like this:

Immigration to Canada surges in April, worsening outlook for housing affordability

Plus, BMO hikes target on the TSX

www.theglobeandmail.com

Posthaste: Canada's standard of living on track for worst decline in 40 years

Canada's GDP per capita is on track for the worst decline since 1985, says Fraser Institute study. Find out more

financialpost.com

At this point, it's gotta be malicious. They can't be this incompetent.

I work with a lot of metal fabricating and powder coating factories in and around the GTA. I've notice more and more places sticking "No resumes. Not hiring" signs on the front doors. I can honestly say, i don't think i have ever seen that before. One place i deal with i got off the bus and cut through the parking lot and got barked at by the security guard saying they don't take resumes, I told him i was there for a meeting not looking for a job.

I bet with all the new comers, wearhouses/factories are getting flooded with resumes from people who little or zero experience. Must be hell for HR.

 

[picard102]

Must be hell for HR.

People coming in with a paper resume probably just end up in the trash, as a lot of HR dept automate their first pass through resumes digitally exclude ones that do not match requirements.

 

[kEiThZ]

I work with a lot of metal fabricating and powder coating factories in and around the GTA. I've notice more and more places sticking "No resumes. Not hiring" signs on the front doors. I can honestly say, i don't think i have ever seen that before. One place i deal with i got off the bus and cut through the parking lot and got barked at by the security guard saying they don't take resumes, I told him i was there for a meeting not looking for a job.

I bet with all the new comers, wearhouses/factories are getting flooded with resumes from people who little or zero experience. Must be hell for HR.

I just cannot make sense of Liberal policy on this or their lack of urgency. They don't seem to care much and the PM talks about immigration as if the federal government isn't responsible for it. It's insane. And as an immigrant and visible minority person, I genuinely fear the backlash we're being set up for.

 

[Admiral Beez]

I bet with all the new comers, wearhouses/factories are getting flooded with resumes from people who little or zero experience. Must be hell for HR.

That’s why they ask for Canadian experience and references, no matter what Queen’s Park wants.

Ontario Newsroom

news.ontario.ca

No employer wants to be the first to take on a newcomer with unverifiable credentials.

 

[lenaitch]

A relative gets hiring interviews for tech positions. Typically, the first interview is remote and they have found they have to devise strategies to work around AI assisting the applicant. They have AI running off-screen listening to the questions and the applicant essentially reads its answer back to them. At first, they were wondering why some new hires who interviewed well weren't making it through probation so they started paying more attention.

 

[kEiThZ]

That’s why they ask for Canadian experience and references, no matter what Queen’s Park wants.

Ontario Newsroom

news.ontario.ca

No employer wants to be the first to take on a newcomer with unverifiable credentials.

Maybe. But it's such a waste of talent have engineers and architects and stuff with much more valuable experience abroad and that we don't value their experience.

 

[DSC]

Maybe. But it's such a waste of talent have engineers and architects and stuff with much more valuable experience abroad and that we don't value their experience.

There are actually TWO problems for immigrants. Firstly they lack 'Canadian experience" but I think that a far larger problem is that foreign qualifications are NOT always at the same standard as Canadian ones and obtaining licences is costly, time consuming and bureaucratic. I have a friend who had lots of (UK) experience as a pharmacist and, though his training was at least as good there as we have here, he knew nothing about how the health system works (or does not work) here and he DID need to learn that. There are many programs, like https://www.pharmacy.utoronto.ca/programs/international-pharmacy-graduate-program that teach "Canadian Practice' but they are not cheap and have limited intake.

 

[Admiral Beez]

Maybe. But it's such a waste of talent have engineers and architects and stuff with much more valuable experience abroad and that we don't value their experience.

Agreed. What Canada should have is an accreditation review and equivalency certificate issuance process at time of immigrant application, ideally partnered with either Canadian colleges or trade associations. If you’re a doctor or engineer in India, for example, your credentials are reviewed and if deemed equivalent to Canadian standards, your accreditations would be certified by the CMA or CSPE. That’s how it should be done, so that our potential immigrant is neither misled nor see their potential wasted when they come to Canada.

 

[lenaitch]

Agreed. What Canada should have is an accreditation review and equivalency certificate issuance process at time of immigrant application, ideally partnered with either Canadian colleges or trade associations. If you’re a doctor or engineer in India, for example, your credentials are reviewed and if deemed equivalent to Canadian standards, your accreditations would be certified by the CMA or CSPE. That’s how it should be done, so that our potential immigrant is neither misled nor see their potential wasted when they come to Canada.

One would think after all this time somebody could come up with a way to maintain a valid list of foreign professional institutions that meet our standards. I don't know if it is arrogance or turf protecting that puts our standards on a pedestal over all others. I have two nieces - Canadian born and raised - who received their medical training in Ireland and were lumped into the same pile as somebody from U Chechnya.