Harper’s Income Trust Treason is a Liberal God-send

Image: Full page CAITI ad in the Toronto Star from 2007. Click to enlarge

The evidence in now overwhelmingly upon us. The anniversary date only days away. Halloween 2006 is a day that will live in infamy as a day of treachery and treason, like none other before in this country. The treachery and treason committed by the architects of the income trust tax, Harper, Flaherty and Carney. An act of treason and treachery that needs to be publicly prosecuted, if not by the Leaders of the Opposition, then by me and others concerned about the economic fate of this country:

Treachery and treason on so many levels and adversely affecting every Canadian:

The treasonous and treacherous act of Harper promising Canadian seniors and those saving for retirement during Election 2006 that their investments were secure and that a “Conservative government will never raid seniors nest eggs by taxing income trusts”, only to do that very thing at a cost to Canadians of $35 billion of their life savings.

The treasonous and treacherous act of Harper claiming that this reversal of policy was necessary because income trusts allegedly cause tax leakage, something that is a mere artifice and outright fabrication as determined by any number of credible organizations such as RBC, BMO, CIBC, Deloitte, PWC and HLB Decision Economics.

The treasonous and treacherous act of Harper refusing to disclose the government analysis that supports such a contention and thereby defying any degree of accountability and transparency that is expected of democracies and was promised by the traitorous Harper.

The treasonous and treacherous act of Harper carving out special exemptions and massive loopholes from this tax for tax deferred pension plans, all the while arguing from the other side of his mouth that tax deferred RRSPs were the alleged source of tax leakage, and thereby favoring the 25% of Canadians with pensions at the huge expense of the 75% of Canadians without pensions.

The treasonous and treacherous act of Harper of choosing the self-interests of corporate managers and CEO over the interests of the Canadian capital market and the very Canadian investors, whose interests these corporate managers and CEOs have a fiduciary obligation to protect, rather than openly subvert and oppose.

The treasonous and treacherous act of Harper of creating a false set conditions that was lobbied for by the CEOs of Canada’s largest lifecos to kill income trusts in order for them to kill the competition for their retirement savings products, many of which were synthetic and derivative products that were insufficiently hedged and which almost caused the collapse of one of Canada’s largest life insurers when they were unable to meet the real world stress test of the global financial meltdown that famously exposed those who were “swimming naked, as revealed when the tide went out” to quote Warren Buffett.

The treasonous and treacherous act of Harper of creating massive tax leakage measured in billions of dollars of foregone annual tax revenue, where none existed before, from the wave of takeovers by non taxable entities using tax avoidance structures that were predicted by many and which have now occurred in droves and will now accelerate in the days ahead

The treasonous and treacherous act of Harper of creating a false set conditions that would see major segments of Canada’s energy sector fall into the hands of groups like Abu Dhabi Energy, Korean National Oil and Hong Kong billionaire Li Ka Shing. Who could possibly be next on the list of non taxable investors favoured by Harper to displace taxable Canadian from investing in their own country?

The treasonous and treacherous act of Harper of creating a false set conditions that would see major segments of Canada’s economy, like BCE, fall into the hands of US and foreign private equity, an outcome that was almost ensured by his income trust tax on Canadians and by his elimination of the 15% withholding tax paid by foreigners on leveraged buyout loans.

The treasonous and treacherous act of Harper of destroying the only credible means for Canadians without pensions to generate sufficient income during times of protracted low interests rates in order to live a dignified retirement after years of contributing to Canada’s economy and scrimping to have enough savings to live on.

The treasonous and treacherous act of Harper of placing Canada at a distinct competitive disadvantage to its largest trading partner, the US, who Harper had falsely claimed had shut down income trusts, when in fact have a vibrant and growing market for MLPs, the very equivalent of an income trust.

The anniversary of Happy Hallowing is upon us. The Hallowing Out of Corporate Canada by a policy whose only predictable outcome was the Hallowing Out of Canadians business by tax favoured foreign entities. The Hallowing Out of Canada’s tax base to the tune of some $7.5 lost annual tax revenue of this absurd policy is allowed to continue unchecked. The Hallowing Out of Canadians retirement lifestyles as they attempt to make ends meet with high risk stocks and low yielding bonds.

In all of this wreckage of treason and treachery there is OPPORTUNITY for the Liberals and for Liberal Leader Michael Ignatieff to demonstrate to Canadians that he has their interests and the interests of this country at heart. The Anniversary of Harper’s Act of Treachery and Treason provides the perfect opportunity to drop the doorknobs and drop the gloves and show us what you are made of what you actually stand for and stand against. That is the mark of leadership.

Advocated properly, Ignatieff could turn Harper’s claims of “just visiting” into counter claims of “just pillaging”, for the act of treason and treachery that Harper unleashed upon Canadians a short three years ago, this coming Happy Hallowing. The evidence upon which Ignatieff can base this case is overwhelming and irrefutable. Will Ignatieff champion the cause of Canadians against the treason of Harper and the sheer and utter incompetence of Jack Layton, without whose support, this policy would never have been unleashed upon an unsuspecting public.