Want to buy your way into Canada? New options revealed

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By Majorie van Leijen    May 13 2014   https://www.zawya.com

Want to buy your way into Canada? New options revealed

Photo Credit:REUTERS/David McNew

New investment programme in Canada in the making

In February this year, the two investment programmes that existed were scrapped by the Canadian government, along with the backlog of thousands of applications. What had been the gateway to Canadian citizenship for the high net-worth-individuals for many years was suddenly a closed door.

However, it seems that the door will not remain shut, as several options have already been discussed. Most concrete were recent statements made by Chris Alexander, Minister of Immigration and Citizenship, to the Chinese media about the details of a new investment pilot scheme, which is set to be launched by the year-end.

According to news sources, the new programme would take the shape of a venture capital pilot, with a minimum investment amount that is more than twice as much as the previous amount, which was CAD800,000.

The investment would involve a privately managed at-risk venture capitalist investment, with a strong focus on start-up businesses, whereas the original programme offered a risk-free investment; the funds were eventually returned in full, interest free. The financing option that existed would no longer be part of the new pilot.

Further, the period of investment would probably exceed the previous investment period, which was a five-year period. However, language and residency requirements would most likely not be terribly stringent.

When the Immigrant Investment Programme (FIIP) and the Entrepreneur Programme were cancelled three months ago, the Citizenship and Immigration Canada (CIC) explained that in order to move forward with programmes that would more accurately capture the types of investors needed in Canada, CIC would instead eliminate the files currently in the backlog.

With that decision, 65,000 backlogged applications were returned. “By doing away with the current IIP and EN programmes, the government will pave the way for new pilot programmes that will actually meet Canada’s labour market and economic needs,” was the argument of the CIC.

However, not much was revealed about these programmes after that, claimed Sergio Marchi, former Minister of Citizenship & Immigration and Member of the global Council on Migration at the sidelines of the Citizenship by Investment & International Residence Summit, held in Dubai last month.

“Rather than refocusing and reinvigorating the programme, it was terminated without providing the public with a transparent economic analysis of the costs and benefits it brought to Canada,” he said.

Over the last 25 years, some 3,000 high net-worth-individuals have become residents annually, representing over CAD10 billion of investments, he points out. “These investments have been used to fund Canadian priorities, including support for SMEs and debt reduction.”

In general, the focus of the Canadian immigration policy has been more on the worker than on the investor. On average, immigrant investors comprised between 2-3 per cent of all immigrants who come into Canada each year, and a total of 130,000 investors have arrived in Canada over the past 25 years.

Ironically, the country was among the first to adopt an immigrant investment programmes, a concept which has been applied in many countries ever since. However, there is currently only the Start-Up Programme, which is an option for the entrepreneur to do business in Canada in return for permanent residency.

© Emirates 24|7 2014

Fair Elections Act passes third reading, expected to become law by June

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Josh Wingrove

OTTAWA — The Globe and Mail    Tuesday, May. 13 2014

An overhaul of Canadian electoral law is one step closer to being in place for the 2015 campaign after the House of Commons passed Bill C-23 despite ongoing calls for changes.

The Conservative government’s divisive Fair Elections Act passed third reading in the House on Tuesday evening by a vote of 146 to 123. It will now be sent to the Senate, where a quick approval is expected. The government hopes to make it law by June.

Bill C-23 overhauls many of the rules for election campaigns in Canada. Chiefly, it will boost ID requirements on voting day and place limits on what Elections Canada can do publicly. It creates a registry for robocall rules, albeit one some fear will be toothless, and boosts penalties for certain offences while adding an extra day of advance voting.

Critics have warned its effect could disenfranchise some voters, reduce voter turnout and tilt the electoral playing field in favour of the Conservatives.

Facing widespread calls for change, the Conservatives last month were forced to back down on certain proposals and amend the bill. The government, however, voted down more than 200 opposition amendments – all but a few minor, technical ones – aimed at further reforms.

The man spearheading the effort, Democratic Reform Minister Pierre Poilievre, brushed aside ongoing calls for changes and said it’s time to push the bill to become law.

“Now we move forward to decision day, having had all these debates [and] considered modest but fair changes. It is time for people to decide. This bill will allow Elections Canada to focus on its core mandate of running elections fairly and efficiently,” Mr. Poilievre said in the House of Commons on Tuesday.

House Leader Peter Van Loan said the bill will be in place in time for the next election and it’s not expected to be delayed in the Senate.

“All indications are the bill does have a lot of support – not only among elected officials in the House, but also in the Senate,” Mr. Poilievre said.

The bill continues to have opponents. A long list of non-partisan experts called for changes, including some that weren’t made. In return, the Conservative government attacked the motives of some critics, such as Chief Electoral Officer Marc Mayrand, before abruptly announcing amendments.

Mr. Poilievre offered no contrition Tuesday when asked if he had any regrets about the process. “I’m very happy with how it went about,” he said.

NDP Leader Thomas Mulcair has said the bill would “weaken our democracy and make voting harder across the country,” and NDP MPs continued to outline their problems with the bill in the waning hours of debate Tuesday.

The NDP had asked 19 specific Conservative MPs – those with an independent streak – to oppose the bill. They included Harold Albrecht, Jay Aspin, Maxime Bernier, Peter Braid, Michael Chong, Rob Clarke, Robert Goguen, Bal Gosal, Laurie Hawn, Bryan Hayes, Gerald Keddy, Ryan Leef, James Rajotte, Lawrence Toet, Brad Trost, Susan Truppe, Tim Uppal, David Wilks and Stephen Woodworth. In the end, none voted against it.

Liberal Leader Justin Trudeau has pledged to repeal the bill if elected prime minister, a pledge he reiterated Tuesday.

“The changes that have been made aren’t good enough, and if we form government in 2015, we will establish a much fairer principle around elections and repeal C-23,” he said.

OECD report says reducing income inequality requires wealthy pay more tax

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The fact such an organization is recommending higher taxes for corporations and the wealthy shows how bad inequality has become.

Ottawa (12 May 2014) — A new report from the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) makes it clear that we cannot reduce income inequality without the wealthy paying more tax. According to the OECD, tax cuts for the wealthy and corporations have contributed to the increase in income inequality over the last 30 years.

Tax cuts for the wealthy and corporations worsen income inequality

The report also makes it clear that inequality is a growing problem in Canada. In Canada, 37 per cent of income growth in the period studied when to the wealthiest one per cent of Canadians. Only the United States, where the wealthiest one per cent received 47 per cent of income growth, was worse.

Among the changes to the tax system that the OECD identifies as contributing to income inequality are cutting income tax rates for high income earners and corporations, and taxing dividends and capital gains at a lower rate than wages and salaries. Both of these happened in Canada.

OCED report exposes two of the myths about income inequality

The first myth is that income inequality isn’t a problem in Canada, which is popular with conservative politicians and commentators who don’t want to admit that most Canadians have been badly hurt by their policies.

A second myth is that we can reduce income inequality without asking corporations and the wealthy to pay their fare share. As the OECD study makes clear, increasing the tax paid by large corporations and the wealthy is a first step to reducing income inequality. Until the wealthy and large corporations pay their share, there will not be the funds required for the programs and services that low and middle income Canadians need to get ahead.

“The OECD is hardly a radical organization,” says James Clancy, National President of the National Union of Public and General Employees (NUPGE). The National Union has been running its All Together Now! campaign about income inequality for over four years.

“OCED members are governments committed to free market economies. Its priorities include restoring confidence in markets. The fact such an organization is recommending higher taxes for corporations and the wealthy shows how bad inequality has become.” said Clancy. 

More information:

All Together Now! campaign

NUPGE

The National Union of Public and General Employees (NUPGE) is one of Canada’s largest labour organizations with over 340,000 members. Our mission is to improve the lives of working families and to build a stronger Canada by ensuring our common wealth is used for the common good. NUPGE

Will The Fight for Gay Rights Stop the Trans-Pacific Partnership?

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May 12, 2014

sultanofbruneiRT 500x333 Will The Fight for Gay Rights Stop the Trans Pacific Partnership?

By TJ Acena, PQ Monthly    May 12, 2014

You may have heard that wealthy Hollywood types are boycotting the Beverly Hills Hotel (assuming you follow news about places only rich Hollywood types can afford to stay). This is because the hotel is owned by an investment firm that is owned by the Sultan of Brunei. The Sultan is implementing Sharia law in the tiny kingdom, which would make it legal to stone adulterers and LGBTQ people to death and place harsh sentences on women who have abortions or become pregnant outside of marriage.

This on its own is upsetting enough, but I came across an article on the Huffington Post that pointed out that Brunei would be part of the Trans-Pacific Partnership and this recent controversy could threaten the TPP.

What is the TransPacific Partnership? Well it is similar to the North American Free Trade Agreement and establishes a free trade zone around the Pacific Ocean, encompassing (currently) fourteen countries, 800 million people, and 40 percent of the global economy. President Obama has been trying hard to get this passed but it has come up against some opposition for some very good reasons:

  • From Médecins Sans Frontières: The TPP would establish strong intellectual property regimes that would extend patent monopolies on medications, delaying the production of generic drugs, including HIV medication. This would especially hurt people in developing countries at the expense of pharmaceutical companies, who have worked with the US government to help create the TPP.
  • From The Nation: Text from the Stop Online Piracy Act appears in the TPP. You might remember that Internet activist Aaron Swartz lead the public campaign to stop SOPA.
  • From Democracy Now!: The TPP is creates trade agreements similar to NAFTA, which hasn’t had the most amazing effects on the economies or the environments of the US or Mexico. According to Public Citizen Oregon lost over 18,000 manufacturing jobs (10%) during the NAFTA and WTO period (1994 – 2013)
  • From Democracy Now!: It would make it easier for corporations to sue countries for lost profits. To use a recent example: In El Salvador the government shut down a Canadian mining firm after it dumped poisonous chemicals into the drinking water. Under the trade agreement the company sued the country for $315 million. Hypothetically this could also allow Brunei to sue the United States for lost profits over the boycott of the Beverly Hill Hotel.

So we have a trade deal which could keep developing countries from getting HIV medication, curtail internet freedom, affects the global economy in ways we can’t imagine yet, give immense power to corporations, and we would enter into this agreement with a country (exercising its religious freedom) that thinks (even if the standards of proof are high) that it is OK to stone LGBTQ people to death or put women in prison for getting an abortion.

Now I hope that all this attention does change the mind of the Sultan of Brunei and stops the TPP.

BlogTail TJ 1 Will The Fight for Gay Rights Stop the Trans Pacific Partnership?

TPP Talks To Begin in Vietnam

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http://www.marketpulse.com   20140512

Countries involved in negotiations for an ambitious Pacific free trade agreement began talks in Vietnam’s Ho Chi Minh City on Monday, aiming to strike a deal in time for a ministerial meeting that Singapore has confirmed will be held in the city-state on May 19-20.

The fresh round of negotiations comes after Japan and the United States, the two biggest economies in the Trans-Pacific Partnership, moved closer over bilateral contentious issues following a summit between Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and U.S. President Barack Obama last month.

Over the next four days, the chief negotiators from the 12 TPP member nations will focus on resolving tough remaining issues such as tariffs, especially in areas including politically sensitive agricultural goods, intellectual property and reform of state-owned companies.

Koji Tsuruoka, Japan’s top TPP negotiator, said bilateral negotiations over tariff removal will be the key to moving things forward at the meeting.

“I hope we will be able to see significant results that will lead to finalizing” a deal, Tsuruoka told reporters prior to the start of the meeting, noting that there has been major progress in Japan-U.S. bilateral talks recently.