From: canada.revenueagency@canada.com   
      
   Canada Revenue Agency MUM on Santa Claus' Tax Filings :CRA SOTW    
      
   Santa Can Call Canada HO-HO-Home    
   By Luke Simcoe December 23, 2008 8:01 AM    
      
   It's unclear whether Santa has always been considered Canadian based on his   
   place of residence, or if the country has extended him citizenship as a   
   courtesy.    
      
   There's a reason he dresses in red and white: Santa is one of ours. Less than   
   three weeks after the Canadian government proposed legislation to expand the   
   country's sovereignty over Arctic waters, its citizenship minister is shoring   
   up Canada's claim to    
   the Far North by declaring Santa Claus, a longtime resident of the North Pole,   
   to be a Canadian citizen.    
      
   "The Government of Canada wishes Santa the very best in his Christmas Eve   
   duties and wants to let him know that, as a Canadian citizen, he has the   
   automatic right to re-enter Canada once his trip around the    
   world is complete," said Jason Kenney, the minister of Citizenship,   
   Immigration and Multiculturalism, in an official statement.    
      
   It is unclear whether Santa has always been considered Canadian based on his   
   place of residence, or if the country has extended him citizenship as a   
   courtesy. "I'll let Foreign Affairs field that particular question," said   
   Andrew House, a spokesman for    
   Kenney.    
      
   Sadly, Foreign Affairs representatives were reluctant to let the toy out of   
   the bag, so to speak. Alain Cacchione, a Foreign Affairs spokesman who handles   
   Arctic issues, declined to comment on the matter, saying only that St. Nick is   
   "an international    
   symbol."    
      
   Although international law states no country has dominion over the geographic   
   North Pole, a number of nations - including Canada, the United States, Russia,   
   Norway and Denmark - have recently begun pressing their claims to the area   
   long said to be the    
   location of Santa Claus's base of operations.    
      
   Tensions have been particularly high between Canada and Russia. In 2007,   
   former foreign affairs minister Peter MacKay lashed out at the Russians after   
   they planted a flag at the bottom of the Beaufort Sea, a region rich in   
   petroleum and natural gas    
   deposits.    
      
   In Russia, the patron saint of Christmas is known as Ded Moroz, which   
   translates as 'Father Frost.' Moroz dresses in garb very similar to Santa   
   Claus and is said to reside in the Russian town of Veliky Ustyug.    
      
   Officials from the Kremlin have yet to respond to Kenney's statement. Should   
   they choose to dispute Santa Claus's citizenship, they would have to overcome   
   a substantial amount of evidence that points to him being Canadian.    
      
   For starters, it's worth pointing out the marked resemblance between his   
   patented red and white outfit and our nation's flag. North American Aerospace   
   Defence Command (NORAD) has been tracking Santa Claus's trip via satellite for   
   more than 50 years and    
   consistently shows Santa's flight beginning somewhere in the Canadian Arctic.    
      
   As well, Canada Post has long been charged with the task of forwarding   
   children's letters to Santa to the jolly fat man's famous H0H 0H0 postal code.    
      
   Malcolm French, a spokesman for Canada Post, said the company receives letters   
   to Santa from all over the world in languages ranging from Albanian to   
   Vietnamese. "Postal code readers all over the world recognize the H0H 0H0   
   postal code as belonging to    
   Canada," French said.    
      
   The global perception that Santa Claus does in fact reside in Canada seems to   
   be growing. In 2007, Canada Post helped deliver more than 1.2 million letters   
   to Santa - a 14 per cent increase over the year before.    
      
   Technically, Santa's postal code would indicate that he lives somewhere in   
   urban Montreal, a region marked by the H prefix in its postal codes. However,   
   given Santa's ability to squeeze down chimneys    
   and circumnavigate the Earth in a matter of hours, it's not surprising that   
   Canada Post made an exception for old St. Nick.    
      
   Calls made Friday to Revenue Canada to determine if Santa was indeed a   
   registered taxpayer in Canada were not returned.    
      
   (c) Copyright (c) Canwest News Service    
      
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