Who's really in charge?
Tuesday, Apr. 28, 2009 | 11:44 AM PT
A consistent pattern shows up in the paper trail about Irvin's Leroux long and sorry tax fight with the Canada Revenue Agency - over a million dollar auditing mistake that cost him his business and his home.
Email correspondence shows - even though two ministers of the crown and his MP were working to get him a settlement - over a two year period - CRA bureaucrats always seemed to have the final say.
The latest we have is from 2008. Then Revenue Minister Gordon O'Connor was pushing to get a settlement going - while CRA bureaucrats were telling him that Mr. Leroux actually owed them GST - which Mr. Leroux's records show is false.
Leroux's MP - who was working on his behalf - wrote that this is what he told O'Connor at the time:
"I said that is false and his bureaucrats are lying to him and he should demand that they show him the evidence. He said he will investigate both and get back to me."
MP Dick Harris also wrote this about O'Connor in an email to Leroux:
"I really do think that he [O'Connor] is trying to do something on this but you can bet the bureaucrats are blocking him at every opportunity."
Of course, it's a year later - and Leroux still has no sign of a settlement - which seems to prove the MP right.
A settlement conference was held seven months ago - apparently at the urging of the minister - where Leroux says the bureaucrats - who were flown in to Prince George at taxpayer's expense - then refused to talk settlement. They called the meeting a "fact finding mission" instead, says Leroux - and it went nowhere.
In general, the emails and that meeting show there has been significant political will - as early as 2006 - to pay Mr. Leroux for the mistakes CRA made - but when it got to the bureaucrats it stopped cold every time.
Mr. Leroux is upset that it appears no one in the CRA who handed his file will be held accountable for any of this, even if he does get a settlement (which taxpayers will pay, of course).
Who is in charge here? Aren't bureaucrats supposed to answer to the minister - not the other way around?
Perhaps if bureaucrats had to face media scrutiny or defend themselves more on Parliament Hill (as often happens on Capitol Hill in the U.S.) things would be different - for Leroux and other Canadians who want justice when mistakes are made.
Comments: (4)
Posted December 13, 2009 08:59 PM
Scott Anderson (London_Ontario) wrote:Another great joke on all Canadians. back in 2007 I was told from one federal department that I have to split my own 2007 income over two years which disqualify me from qualifing for any government programs I paid into for the past 15 years including job training and search as I have been out of work almost 3 years now and semi disabled with zero income soon to be living on the streets in about a year or so when all my pension savings are spent I am only 43 and been waiting for back surgery for 3 years so I can be of use again. That same year in 2007 I had to pay the higest income tax rate because the CRA told me I have to pay taxes on the full income not spread over two years as the other department put it. All I can say is that I am a firm believer now in the underground economy and the hell with the country and its BS ways. As I will be forced in a year or so into the criminal way of life due to the bullshit setup that has evolved in the system over the past 10 years. I was born in Canada as well as the past 8 generations of my family but I am no longer proud of this joke of a country.
Posted May 12, 2009 08:43 PM
Rothwell (Vancouver_BC) wrote:Big government = big trouble.
Posted May 6, 2009 09:21 AM
Any (Norther_BC) wrote:Why is it that nobody has picked up on the incedent in the interior where Campbell flipped a looney at a paramedic picketer adn told them not to spend it all in one place?
It was kept very quiet by the media and downplayed a joke.
People who were there will tell that it was NOT a joke.
It was malicious and nasty
How can the media possibly ignore this?
This is just plain wrong!
Obviously we cannot depend on the media to get these kinds of things out into the spot light!
Posted April 30, 2009 09:57 AM
interiorMogul (prince_george) wrote:this appears to be the quinntessential setup - MP Harris admits he has been fighting alongside Leroux the whole way - but doing WHAT exactly????.....Leroux fights on his own and wins (1998-2005) in THE Tax Court of Canada - tens of thousands of dollars in legal fees. then he writes his OWN Fairness Application (there was no Taxpayers Ombudsman to help him with this at the time) (did Harris write this for him? NO!) Leroux wins again!!!
Next step? Restitution. with the help of MP Harris and at the highest democratic level (the Minister of the day) - Leroux is advised to launch ANOTHER lawsuit so that the department can respond, negotiate and SETTLE. Mr. Harris does not cough up the $7500 for the new lawyer - and NOW MP Harris, Minister Blackburn and the Prime Minister will try to hide behind the skirts of: "the matter is BEFORE THE COURTS?????" Leroux has proof to say otherwise.....I am sick to death of wimpy politicians and arrogant, unfeeling bureaucrats! Let's hold Harris' feet to the fire!