XPost: can.politics, ont.politics, bc.politics   
   XPost: ab.politics, sk.politics, man.politics   
   From: ConsRCons@govt.cda   
      
   What a sniveling, cowardly government.  Yellow stripes on all their   
   backs, regardless of what they're wearing.   
      
   Now that huge problems are showing up in Canada Revenue Agency -   
   including huge tax refunds for Mafia types doing jail time for tax   
   evasion - suddenly it 'wasn't us who did it' is coming from the Harper   
   Cons.  Bullshit it wasn't YOUR doing, you incompetent buggers.  No one   
   moves a muscle without the involvement of Harper and the PMOs office.   
   And now, a newly installed minister for National Revenue uses the line   
   "it happened before I became minister".  No kidding?  Before YOU became   
   minister doesn't mean YOUR ministry wasn't responsible - and the Prime   
   Minister who WAS prime minister before your stint.   
      
   This buck passing is offensive to any person in Canada these days.  We   
   all KNOW where 'the buck stops' with this government . . . at Harper's   
   door.  Senator ass-coverings, illegal spending for election campaigns,   
   corporate donations through 'individuals hands' . . .  the sleaze goes   
   on and on and on.   
      
   If your government is too incompetent to NOT sent a $400,000 tax refund   
   to a mafia leader doing time in YOUR prisons, then you're not worth much   
   in the 'government' area, are you?  Step aside and let some competent   
   politicians start guiding this country in a direction other than to   
   ruin.  We've had enough of your whining and excuses for gross   
   incompetence and fraud.   
   _____________________________________________________________   
      
      
      
   Postmedia News October 1, 2013   
      
   Harper government says 'bureaucrats' cut organized crime unit at Canada   
   Revenue Agency   
      
      
      
      
   OTTAWA — The Harper government says bureaucrats are responsible for   
   making a decision to eliminate a special unit at the Canada Revenue   
   Agency tasked with cracking down on organized crime.   
      
   National Revenue Minister Kerry-Lynne Findlay defended the decision   
   Tuesday, explaining that she believed officials at the agency wanted to   
   improve efficiency.   
      
   “Their reasons would be their own but certainly I believe it’s for   
   efficiency reasons,” said Findlay, after promoting previously-announced   
   federal tax incentives at a residence for seniors in an Ottawa suburb.   
      
   “In terms of the agency itself, they made their internal decision. That   
   decision was taken before I became minister and my expectation (is to   
   have) a robust system that continues to go after those who evade tax and   
   those who are involved in aggressive tax planning that is inappropriate.   
   And as long as that system remains robust, I’m confident we can move   
   forward.”   
      
   Findlay, who was appointed as revenue minister by Prime Minister Stephen   
   Harper in July, also defended $8 million in new spending at the agency   
   from the 2012 federal budget to crack down on charities. The measures   
   have been promoted by ministers in the Harper government as an attempt   
   to investigate political activity by environmental organizations.   
      
   But despite the new spending, only one charity, Physicians for Global   
   Survival, saw its charitable status revoked for exceeding requirements   
   that prohibit a charity from spending more than 10 per cent of its   
   budget on political activities to advocate for a cause.   
      
   “As far as numbers, it isn’t about numbers,” said Findlay. “It’s   
   about   
   who’s complying and who isn’t and again, I expect and anticipate a   
   robust system for looking at charitable organizations as far as their   
   political activities are concerned.”   
      
   A spokesman for the agency also said it was “too early” to evaluate   
   results of the new spending, in terms of sanctions leveled against   
   charities, since it was still in its “early stages.” But he explained   
   that the money was used to create some new reporting and compliance   
   rules for charities as well as websites and “educational activities.”   
      
   Meantime, the elimination of the agency’s Special Enforcement Unit,   
   established in the 1980s to fight organized crime, was highlighted in a   
   Radio-Canada investigation that featured former federal auditors who   
   criticized the cuts and alleged that the agency was infiltrated by   
   criminal organizations. The television network’s investigative show,   
   Enquete, reported that the dismantled special unit worked closely with   
   police and was involved in several high-profile raids and dozens of   
   arrests in recent years.   
      
   The report interviewed an auditor from the unit who said he was forced   
   to knock on the door of a reputed figure connected with organized crime   
   in Montreal, Nicolo Rizzuto, to retrieve a September 2007 cheque from   
   the agency for about $400,000 that was apparently sent in error.   
      
   The commissioner of the agency, Andrew Treusch, said in a statement last   
   week that it had launched an internal investigation into the incident.   
   Treusch said that he had not been advised of any criminal wrongdoing in   
   his initial inquiries into the transaction.   
      
   The agency, which has also recently announced plans to crack down on   
   Canadians who hide money in overseas tax havens, has predicted a   
   reduction in its workforce of about 3,000 employees over the next three   
   years, down from an estimated 41,144 in full-time equivalent workers in   
   2012-13.   
      
   The agency offered a general explanation about its decision to eliminate   
   the unit and transfer its roles over to a general branch responsible for   
   compliance and enforcement programs, but was unable to immediately   
   provide the detailed justification for the changes.   
      
   Dennis Howlett, executive director of an advocacy group called Canadians   
   for Tax Fairness, said that some cuts were justified as the agency moves   
   to accept and process more online tax reforms by computers, but not at   
   the levels announced by the department.   
      
   He also suggested that investments to increase audits of charities were   
   introduced for the wrong reasons.   
      
   “Most of that, I think, was politically motivated, to go after   
   environmental groups because of their opposition to pipelines,” said   
   Howlett. “Many charities and international development agencies and so   
   on are put in an untenable situation of not really being able to fulfill   
   their purpose if they’re prevented from speaking out politically about   
   some of these issues.”   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)