Revenue Canada can kill you by mistake

Alyanna Lapuz, 21 from Winnipeg on January 7th this year received a letter from the Canadian Revenue Agency(CRA) addressed to the "Estate of the Late Alyanna Lapuz".

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A document Lapuz showed the CBC indicates she died according to public records on September 15, 2015. We all know that according to the old saying nothing is certain but death and taxes. The original quote is from Benjamin Franklin but a similar sentiment occurs earlier by Daniel Defoe in 1726. However, there is obviously a different relationship that can occur between death and taxes. At least in the case of the Canadian Revenue Agency, the tax collector can kill you, and although you are actually still alive, you are dead as far as the CRA is concerned. The CRA may also inform other government agencies that you are dead as well so you could have welfare or unemployment insurance cut off, be unable to use your Social Insurance Number (SIN), or have scholarship payments cease.

You might think that cases such as that of Lapuz are rare. Far from it. Between 2007 and 2013 a total of 5,489 Canadians have been wrongly entered as dead in the CRA records. The situation was so common that the Taxpayer's Ombudsman actually issued a report on the problem and issued eight recommendations to help fix it. These included recommendations to make CRA forms for reporting deaths clearer and also following up on people who report deaths in order "to substantiate the date of death."

You might wonder how CRA could wrongfully declare a person dead so often. Sometimes the error arose in another agency, such as vital statistics offices which just passed on the incorrect information to the CRA, which in turn will pass it on to others. At other times, it is the taxpayer's themselves who put incorrect information on tax files. Sometimes, the fault lies within the CRA as incorrect information is entered there. At times employees sometimes use two screens at once with files of two different taxpayers and they enter the deceased code on the wrong file.

In the Lapuz case, the error was internal and involved two employees, according to a CRA Calgary manager who phoned her to apologize and tell her that everything was fixed. Lapuz said she was excited and felt good. She would now again get her student loan. However she noted that it took only a few seconds to kill her but over three weeks to revive her. For some reason, Lapuz's "death" appears to have happened just after she changed her GST refund from checks to direct deposit.

It took many calls and visits to the agency to get the error corrected. She became increasingly frustrated. She was slated to start a dental hygienist program in Toronto in April but her student loan application was not being processed because her Social Insurance number was not valid, since she was officially dead.

The CRA told CBC that the rate of "killings" has decreased since 2013. A CRA statement said: "When CRA becomes aware of an error, we do inform our partners. The CRA responds quickly to take corrective measures when an error is reported. In fact, the CRA aims to rectify the situation within 24 hours."Yet it took CRA over three weeks to have Lapuz' death reversed. Bob Campbell of the Union of Taxation Employees said some errors of this sort will inevitably happen but also points out that over the last four years over 6,000 jobs have been cut from the CRA leaving less people to do more work. The cuts in staffing means that there are fewer staff to do deal with issues such as that of Lapuz.

While being declared dead by the Canadian Revenue Agency is not as certain as death and taxes, it remains an unpleasant possibility. The agency claims to have accepted all eight recommendations of the Ombudsman's report but it could be that they lack the staff to implement them all.

New TPP regulations could hurt Canada Post and CBC

A new document leaked on Wikileaks indicates that State-owned enterprises (SOEs) would be severely restricted under the Trans-Pacific Partnership(TPP) regulations.

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The rules would force SOE's to be run on the basis of "commercial considerations" and this could force them to give up public service mandates if these needed to be subsidized. Sujat Dey, of the Council of Canadians said; "The TPP will hinder our state-owned enterprises from acting in the public interest. The very mission of the CBC -- telling the bilingual and multicultural story of Canada -- will be reduced to simple profit-making. Likewise, Canada Post will no longer function as a nation builder, but as a private company. The essence and mandate of our Crown corporations are being traded away in favour of private corporate profit."

Both the CBC and Canada Post have been evolving in this direction over the last decades. The new rules will simply hasten the process. Garry Neil, also of the Council and a cultural policy expert said of the CBC:"Forbidding it from giving preference to Canadian producers undermines the Canadian content rules that ensure it remains an essentially Canadian service. All of this sets the stage for the privatization of the CBC, which has been the goal of the Harper government since it was first elected."The TPP will be the largest economic trade agreement in the world. The GDP of the 12 countries involved comprise more than 40 percent of global GDP.

Many have spoken out against the dangers of the TPP including Noam Chomsky who claims that it is "designed to carry forward the neoliberal project to maximize profit and domination, and to set the working people in the world in competition with one another so as to lower wages to increase insecurity." Presidential candidate Bernie Sanders has also spoken out against the TPP as has liberal economist Paul Krugman. Economist Robert Reich said that the TPP is a "Trojan horse in a global race to the bottom, giving big corporations and Wall Street banks a way to eliminate any and all laws and regulations that get in the way of their profits."

Wikileaks released a letter that was to guide negotiators on how SOEs should be treated under the deal. SOEs would include public utilities, telecommunications providers, state-run investment companies, or even mining or energy companies that are state-owned. These SOEs are to operate "on the basis of commercial considerations." Jane Kelsey, a New Zealand law professor said:“SOEs are almost always state-owned because they have functions other than those that are merely commercial...such as guaranteed access to important services, or because social, cultural, development and commercial functions are inextricably intertwined.”Many developed nations have SOE's and in developing nations SOE's are important since they do not follow market or commercial principles that might disadvantage poorer citizens. Kelsey has a detailed analysis of the letter that can be found here.

The letter suggests that countries could be sued if an SOE is adversely affecting its interests: "... it suggests that a postal service, public telecommunications provider or state-owned bank that receives financial support from the government to deliver services into poor areas for social reasons could be challenged by a courier firm, satellite operator or internet bank from another country that says the support is adversely affecting it and hence its country’s interests."Kelsey suggests that the restriction of SOE's to operations on commercial principles results in structuring SOE's so that they could be easily privatized. As the appended video shows, once functions are privatized they cannot be taken back into public ownership. Those already in public ownership can no longer play a role outside commercial concerns. Of course all of this is very controversial since many countries may find it politically necessary to defend a wider role for their own SOE's. Powerful players will probably be able to negotiate exceptions for some of their own SOE's while the less powerful will be forced to yield. Fortunately. a recent meeting to finish the TPP broke up with no agreement.

Peter Mansbridge and Stratford Crew Do Gangnam Style Parody

Peter Mansbridge, the anchor of the CBC National news report, takes part in an parody of the famous, Gangnam Style, South Korean pop single by singer PSY.

Parodies of the South Korean pop song, Gangnam Style, are legion. Digital Journal has reports on two political versions. One features Mitt Romney and another Barack Obama. .

There are also parodies that feature cartoon characters and even North Korea. Now the veteran CBC news announcer has entered the fray. He does his best, together with members of the Stratford Shakespeare Festival, including cast and crew of 42n Street and The Pirates of Penzance. On his Twitter account , that has a link to the video,Mansbridge says:

"Be kind. I know I can't dance or sing but it's all good fun for a great Festival Theatre!"

He is a keen critic of his own performance!

The CBC has a list of the top ten parodies of the Gangnam Style.together with links to the videos. Number one on the list is Lifeguard Style.

A group of lifeguards in El Monte, Calif., produced this video at the public pool as a way to remember the summer before going back to school. The city did not appreciate attention the video brought to the city or the use of the public pool to make the video. The lifeguards and the pool manager were all fired. They should have received an award instead.

According to the participants :*All footage was recorded off the clock during breaks and free time.* However, on Sept. 5, 2012 city supervisors fired the group for using a public facility for private purposes and wearing their uniforms in public while off duty. The group were told unofficially that their music was disgusting and embarassing to the city!

Another parody uses the mascot of the U. of Oregon athletics the Duck in their Oregon Duck Style. This video was done with iPhones!

UPDATE: There is a report today (Oct. 17) that the lifeguards fired over their video have been rehired.

Canada silences short wave broadcasting

 For 67 years Radio Canada International broadcast short wave programming around the world. The transmission  from Sackville New Brunswick has now been shut down. Radio Canada International has had its budget cut by 80 per cent and has been reduced to a few staff and a weak web presence.
 As with vinyl records no doubt many think shortwave radio a thing of the past. Yet there are still many strong stations. It is not expensive to provide. Many church groups use it.
 Unlike the Internet which can often be disrupted short wave signals cannot easily be jammed. Many in the world just have no access to phones or electricity let alone the Internet. However battery and hand-cranked short wave radios are ubiquitous.
  In spite of  the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation being a prominent presence in Canada, Canada is just
16th of 18 countries in per capita spending on public broadcasting. Only the U.S. and New Zealand spend less. Conservatives are supposed to respect and encourage tradition. However short wave radio does not bring in any bucks or support the Conservative agenda so it should go For more see this article.
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CBC funding to be cut and jobs lost

The CBC funding has been declining for some time now. The broadcaster is disliked by many conservatives. It is often called the Communist Broadcasting Corporation (CBC). The company is noted for some excellent documentaries and programs but as it has had to become more dependent upon ads for funding IMHO it has declined in quality.

The CBC has both English and French services. The English services will lose 86 million from its budget including 256 full time jobs.

There will be cuts to programming including six less series. With 175 less hours one can expect repeats. Altogether the budget cuts 115 million from the budget over three years.

CBC news will lose 88 jobs and cut 10 million from its budget.There will be fewer documentaries and both South American and African bureaus will be closed. The CBC will not get a Canadian perspective on events in those areas.

The CBC has often published exposes of government as well as corporate Canada. The Harper Conservative government and many of his supporters do not like that one little bit. Many are opposed to any publicly funded media period. For more see the full article.

Things have changed as in 1932 during the establishment of the CBC Conservative Prime Minister R.B. Bennett said; "I cannot think that any government would be warranted in leaving the air to private exploitation and not reserving it for use of the people." See this article.

Canada: Female officers may file class action suit against RCMP.

    Since a Canadian Broadcasting Corporation news story in November featuring sexual harassment charges by high profile Corporal Catherine Galliford many other current and former female members of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police have come forward with other complaints.
     Many who have come forward say that there were inspired by the testimony of Galliford to come forward themselves. There now are at least 25 who may join a class action suit against the force. Lawyer Alexander Zaitleff along with six other lawyers is collecting data for the case. He maintains that he has been receiving stories from every province about abuse. Another lawyer involved said that the suit would likely be filed on behalf of one or two specific plaintiffs but he will then ask that the suit be certified as a class action. This would allow others to join.
    Corporal Krista Carle started a Facebook group open only to women with complaints of abuse. She noted that some involved have been diagnosed with post-traumatic stress syndrome. Some can no longer work Until she saw the Galliford news report she felt that no one would ever believe her own story of harassment. For more see this article.
 

CBCquietly sells off catalogue of programs to British company

This is from the Globe and Mail. I wonder if CBC has a story on this! This is another example of privatisation by stealth. This was done without any motion or even discussion at the CBC board level. It was done without even notifying other interested purchasers that the catalogue was to be sold! Someone should be sacked for this.
The article does not even discuss or even consider the possibility that the CBC should continue to distrubute the items. It gives no reason why there was a sale in the first place. It is not necessary. Privatisation is regarded somehow as a good in itself I guess! We subsidise all this stuff and then we just sell it off to let private enterprise gain any profits.

CBC quietly sells off catalogue of programs to British company
GAYLE MACDONALD

January 9, 2008

The CBC's low-profile pre-Christmas sale of its taxpayer-funded international sales catalogue to a foreign buyer is drawing the ire of some of the biggest guns in Canadian television, who question why homegrown distributors weren't invited to bid.

Even some members of the CBC board of directors privately complain they weren't properly informed of the sale of a significant chunk of the public corporation's international sales arm last month to Britain-based ContentFilm for an undisclosed sum.

"At issue is the cloak-and-dagger nature of the transaction," said Laszlo Barna, whose Toronto-based Barna-Alper Productions has co-produced series for the public broadcaster. "It makes no sense why the CBC never attempted to invite Canadian companies in particular to participate in a transparent auction of publicly owned assets. If this had been any other Crown corporation who had transferred hard assets without tender ... heads would roll."

The below-the-radar deal saw 135 titles and 700 hours of CBC's international sales catalogue, including new dramas such as The Border and Heartland, sold to ContentFilm just days before Christmas.


The CBC has released few details of the deal, which allows ContentFilm to sell the rights to the CBC shows to broadcasters around the world.

"This is a public trust that every Canadian taxpayer has contributed to in this library," veteran actor Paul Gross said. "The fact that it appears to have been sold with absolutely no open bidding, discussion, or presentation to the public is bizarre. This is a question of national ownership. What's up for grabs next? Algonquin Park? PEI?"

While CBC board members would not return calls yesterday, several sources in the CBC's directorial ranks say they had no knowledge of the negotiations between ContentFilm and the CBC. Nor did they approve the deal. Two board members have confirmed they had no clue the deal had been cut until they saw a brief press release about it that was issued just after the sale.

Yesterday, Steve Billinger, executive director of CBC's digital programming and business development, disputed the assertion that the board was kept in the dark. "The board was informed that we were in discussions with them. I don't know if they gave a stamp of approval to the deal ... but we're proceeding with it, so ..."

Asked why no other players were informed the asset was on the block, he said: "There are no other substantive Canadian distributors who would have been interested in these titles."

Robert Lantos, the Toronto film producer and part-owner of Toronto distributor Oasis International, said yesterday he would have jumped at the opportunity.

"It should have been a transparent process whereby the highest bidder takes it," said the founder of boutique movie house Serendipity Point Films.

"There is no way to know how good or how bad the deal is without disclosure. But I can't imagine any reason why they wouldn't want to sell it to the highest bidder. This is an asset that was 100-per-cent taxpayer financed. As a former CBC director, it seems to me this should have been a matter for board approval, scrutiny and full disclosure."

Distribution newcomer Entertainment One, based in Toronto, said it also would have considered buying the international sales catalogue.

Two days after the deal was struck, ContentFilm issued a news release saying Toronto-based Peace Arch Entertainment was buying ContentFilm, majority owned by U.S. multimillionaire Jeff Sagansky.

Mr. Sagansky is also Peace Arch's interim chief executive officer since its former CEO, Gary Howsam, was charged last November with seven counts of fraud in the United States. The Peace Arch acquisition is slated to close at the end of March.

Several industry sources note that Fred Fuchs - CBC's executive director of arts and entertainment programming, who they say played a significant part in this deal - was a senior vice-president at Peace Arch before joining the CBC in April, 2006.

Mr. Billinger denied that Mr. Fuchs smoothed the way for the transaction. "I run the business. It was my deal. International sales report through me."

Mr. Fuchs declined to comment last night.

Mr. Barna says it makes sense for CBC to get out of international sales since that is not its core business, and is an area that could likely be better handled by a seasoned distributor. "But that's not the issue. It's accountability that's off kilter here.

"I have the greatest respect for the CBC's mandate to make the institution and its programming stronger. But not in transactions that don't stand up to public scrutiny. This is fundamentally wrong."

NDP wants Tom Long out of CBC hiring process

This is the second place I have seen mention of this matter. I wonder if it will ever manage to become big news in the mainstream press. It seems odd that news media have not jumped on this already.

NDP asks CBC chair to remove Long
NDP MP Angus sends letter to Timothy Casgrain asking him to keep Tom Long out of hiring process
OTTAWA – NDP Culture and Heritage Critic Charlie Angus (Timmins-James Bay) called on recently appointed CBC Chair Timothy Casgrain to remove Tom Long from any involvement in the search for a new CEO and executive director of news for the public broadcaster.

“Mr. Long is a Conservative insider with ties that go all the way to PMO communications director, Sandra Buckler,” said Angus. “This is just another way for Harper to control media content. We are hoping that Mr. Casgrain will recognize this clear conflict of interest and remove Tom Long from participating in any way in the process.”

Angus raised the issue of Mr. Long’s involvement last week, after an internal memo went out to CBC staff advising them to send their application for the open position to him. The NDP MP sent a letter to Mr. Casgrain on Thursday asking him to do everything in his power as chair of the institution to remove any doubt in Canadians’ minds that the search is above reproach.

“The CBC is a public institution whose newsroom cannot afford to be tainted with the perception of political interference,” said Angus. “And Long’s involvement is akin to sugar in a gas tank.”

Architect of Common Sense Revolution to pick new CBC news heads

You would think this would be headlines across the nation. But this is the first I have seen anything about it. Except for some excellent documentaries (and some bad ones too) the CBC is hardly exceptional. It wastes endless TV time on Black or the Pickton trial, or human interest stories and not having much time for anything more. Maybe Harper is aiming for a public FOX news north.


Long, Tom - Architect of "Common Sense Revolution" to pick CBC News heads

Rhetoric and framing expert a natural ally for Stephen Harper.

TORONTO, August 13, 2007: One of Canada's top right-wing strategists to recruit two top managers for CBC News. Engaging former (Ontario Premier) Mike Harris' advisor, Tom Long, could signal the Harper government's desire to politicize the public broadcaster.

Long is remembered as the architect of one of Canada's most successful rhetorical campaigns, the so-called "Common Sense Revolution" (CSR) that elected Harris in 1995 and 1999. He was also one of four well-connected advisors who won untendered contracts worth $5.6 million from the Conservatives in 1999. Others were his close colleagues in the party and Premier's office, Leslie Noble, Paul Rhodes, and Michael Gourley.

Long attracted negative attention over doing for Mike Harris what he has now been hired to do for Stephen Harper. In 1999, he worked, as he does now, for corporate "headhunting" firm Egon Zehnder International. It received $83,000 for Long's services in recruiting top Harris advisor and longtime colleague Debbie Hutton as the vice-president of corporate relations for Hydro One, the province's electrical supplier. "That must have been a long hunt," commented columnist Andrew Coyne, with irony, when the news broke.

"Tom Long has been a true believer in his right-wing politics for a long time," says Graham Murray, a consultant and editor of the insider newsletter Inside Queen's Park.

"He has been active in the PC party at the provincial and federal level for a long time," said Murray, in a telephone interview with HarperIndex.ca. "I think he is fairly credited with having played a crucial role in the development of the CSR." Long was "the front man in the CSR effort to, among other things, recruit Mike Harris as a suitable standard bearer in efforts to turn the party sharply to the right."

According to Murray, Long had been critical of the party's moderate tendencies under Premier Bill Davis, such as its support for the purchase of energy company Suncor, and an emphasis on human rights. "He was very much part of a youth underground opposed to the centrist thrust of the 'Big Blue Machine'."

The "crowning touch" for Long and right-wing ideologues like Alister Campbell and Noble "was being able to recruit Harris, who did not begin in politics as a hard right-winger, so it made him an acceptable figurehead for the CSR."

There are ironies in hiring a master of political rhetoric, such as Long, to choose the head of what Canadians have always felt to be a trusted news service. "Persuasion, rhetoric and framing were very much the work he was doing with the party, and he did a superlative job," said Murray.

Although a highly effective organizer, Long "self-destructed" when he tried his hand as a politician, seeking the Canadian Alliance leadership in a race against Stockwell Day in 2000. "That race collapsed in an embarrassing pileup with large-scale digging up of dead bodies in Gaspé," recalls Murray. Long's leadership campaign organizers signed up thousands of bogus new party members in that region of Quebec, reminiscent of "old-style" politics.

Murray observes that, "Not infrequently, very effective backroom functionaries prove not very effective in the frontroom. He went from being a very effective organizer to stumbling in a very humiliating failure."

A news report today says Long's firm has been instructed to recruit two top managers to implement a corporate "transformation" that will result in "decentralizing decision rights across the new system and a reallocation of resources to support these changes." The plan is to "identify opportunities for cost savings and operational efficiencies, ensure that new technology is acquired and implemented to support the efficiency drive." These directives appear to indicate cuts to management and staff at the broadcaster, long a target of Conservative criticism.


Harper Conservative vs. Public Values Frame
Stephen Harper / Mike Harris
New government / Old-style politics
Transform CBC / Government spin

Links and sources
Minister 'sickened' rich contracts went to Tories, Canadian Press, February 24, 2004
New twist in the search to fill CBC's top jobs, Globe and Mail, August 11, 2007
Grit or Tory, same old story, AndrewCoyne.com, February 24, 2004
G.P. Murray Research Limited
Letter from NDP Culture critic Charlie Angus to CBC Chair Timothy Casgrain
Tom Long: Dead wrong for PCs, Canada, Scott Piatkowski, Straight Goods

Posted: August 13, 2007

Harper Index (HarperIndex

The CBC National on Canada's Afghanistan Mission

There was a reasonably extended special segment of the National on the Afghan mission. I thought that overall it was really not very informative and that many significant issues were not even brought up. To a considerable extent this may have been due to the framing of the whole discussion.

The frame of the discussion was an alleged change in Harper's speeches from clear and resolute support of the mission to a much more muted support and even perhaps a desire to cut and run when the mission runs out in 2009. As a result of this framework there was no real discussion of why Canada was there in the first place. There was absolutely nothing about the legality of the invasion .
There was nothing about the obvious change in Canada's role from peacekeeper to active combat roles. There was nothing about our relationship to the US. In fact with a straight face people debated whether Canada would win or lose the war in Afghanistan. Huh! Where are the US, the Brits, and the others in ISAF and the NATO mission. No one even hinted that we might be in Afghanistan to help promote US policies.
No one mentioned the return of strict Sharia laws, the female legislator kicked out of the legislature for criticising her colleagues. Nothing about the convert to Christianity who had to be spirited away to Italy before he was executed. And the CBC presentation was probably far better than anything you might see on FOX news for example.