If I Wasn't Flagged Before...

 I find this to be quite interesting indeed! Read it carefully. It's all the stuff the Canada Revenue Agency can do to you if you don't pay your taxes. You can take this with a grain or even a few shakes of salt upon considering the source - a former Canadian politician, but I think it's accurate. I will never forget the economics professor from, I think it was Acadia University, doing a TED talk in which he said "If you make half a million a year in Canada you don't have to pay taxes and if you make a million, you don't." Of course I don't have a link to that cuz that sort of thing gets washed off the internet all the time. Suffice to say there are some people in Canada paying NO taxes legally because they have almost nothing. This is a good thing. One good thing about my country. I FOUND IT!!! But there are lots of folks in Canada paying no taxes because they have so much money they can take advantage of loopholes strategically inserted into the stories-high tax code of Canada - a work of art so thick precisely for the purpose of facilitating such penetrable holes. 

There are people in Canada who are walking tax havens simply because of the way in which they make their money. Passively. "Work hard and pay yer taxes" has been a fate relegated to the non-elite and to be honest the not-so-smart of Canada. If I could ever find a job here in Canada that put me into that class, why, I'd be outraged at the amount of tax I pay compared to the old money in Canada who don't rely on wages or salaries but investments and personal wealth that come with far too generous tax deductions. Holes penetrable only to the rich. It's not enough to say the government and the CRA know about this and don't give a flying fuck because they have actively contributed to this draconian system of taxation. 

You may think me delusional but I believe the very reason I have been withheld from financial success in and by my own country has a lot to do with my intelligence. I think there are other poor people like me in Canada who would be rattling cages and shaking things up here if they belonged to what we call the working class of our country. That's why we either end up in the upper class or the lower class. I think those of us, and our numbers are few, who would demand revolution even if we were in the UPPER class are systematically relegated to poverty or possibly pushed out of the country so our influence remains minimal. All I can do is write and who has time to read when they're working their arse off and carrying the country's tax burden? 

I probably AM a bit delusional but not entirely. Being passed over by jobs for which I'm massively overqualified; not being able to access websites on my computer while everyone else's computer has no problem with them - this includes numerous government websites some of which booted me out and wouldn't let me back in WHILE I WAS REGISTERING; being sabotaged by coworkers; having my credit rating mysteriously tanked by huge corporations (Telus) who harass me for money I don't owe yet don't allow me to pay it back; having my credit further subverted by a huge corporation (Koodo/Telus) that sold me a product that did not work and expected payment while I was trying unsuccessfully to tell them it didn't work and to shut if off; having every bank account hacked and stolen from; having all my bank cards hacked and stolen from; and being audited by the CRA, having money that I had earned withheld by the taxman and not returned even after I had done everything that was required to get that money UNwithheld. 

I believe at least some of this has happened to me because of what I write about Canada. The truth. The rich people don't want to give up their taxless existences and if loudmouths like me are heard, the masses could revolt. Ralph Waldo Emerson once wrote, "The world is his who can see through its pretention. What deafness, what stone-blind custom, what overgrown error you behold is there only by sufferance - by YOUR sufferance. See it to be a lie and you have already dealt it its mortal blow." Fair enough, Canadian taxes are an example of one of these overgrown errors and I see them for what they are: a huge lie. They are a custom we stone-blindly follow. And the phrases like "If you don't pay taxes, you aren't a good Canadian," comprise their cultural deafness. If I had to pay a lot of them I wouldn't suffer them, I'd protest. Luckily (or is it by design) I can't find work anywhere but overseas and therefore don't pay a lot in taxes. Taxes are no more than a pretention here in Canada. I know that. I don't feel like any of this makes the world mine, however. Maybe only the HONEST world and there ain't much of that left. 

But I'm not even writing today about how taxes in this country have ballooned into the massive monster of inconsistency and favouritism that they have... I've written at length about that here. (whisper: That's why I can't live in Canada) I'm here to talk about the swollen powers of the CRA and how their taxation without representation needs to be exposed. (Whispered: After this they might not let me back into this country even for a visit)

Allow me to draw your attention to that first article I linked. 10% of Canadians have 60% of the wealth. As shocking as that may be, take it from a guy who has tried to find accurate statistics on anything that might reflect badly on Canada, if that was up-to-date and if we had any honest stat sources in Canada I'm betting it would be closer to 1% having 60% of the wealth. It could even be worse. Be that as it may or may not, I think we can agree that it IS getting worse and the cavalier acceptance of that fact is, in my personal opinion, downright unCanadian. But on we mechanically wander...

I need to explain that. What I see, and again I'm not alone here, as part of the problem is our limited view of the scientific world as a well-behaved, objective, empirically sensible force that is more mechanical than wondrously abstract and undefined. It makes us feel arrogant comfort to view the world in this way but this is just another of the pretentions that cause problems. Part of this well-accepted vanity is the concept of humanity being composed of material stuff and working in mechanistic ways. If this were true, we could take a person apart and put them back together like a car or a watch. We can put the parts, the "stuff" back together if we are skilled surgeons, but there's one key force, power, entity that makes humans different from machines and surgery is almost entirely ignorant of it. For such a long time science has just ignored that part and tried to work around it. This is what has led to our view of human individuality and competitiveness that is absolutely a stone-blind, stone-deaf, overgrown error. We are taught that the only way to be significant is at other's expense and this is a pretention that has turned a whole world of humanity into a robotic, mechanistic nightmare in which we see 1% of people with the majority of the earth's assets as somehow acceptable, even normal. I'm sorry but I've always thought of Canada as being more human than that, hence my description of this thinking as absolutely unCanadian. I still hope I'm right...

I hate to flog a dead horse but the longer I stay here in Canada, the longer I feel the palpable... I don't want to dismissively (and maybe arrogantly) call it stupidity because I constantly see smart people contributing to a society that they are consciously aware is relentlessly slipping further and further from that which they desire to live in, but it's a general malaise of apathetic surrender, helplessness, and frustration that only the intellectually defeated would abide. Or "suffer." I've said it before, Canada is that elephant being held where it's at by a tiny peg pounded into the ground. We have the power to stop the government, the banks, the rich, and the CRA from hosing us by hosing them back! But it seems we are no longer the country of hosers we are reputed to be, Bob and Doug notwithstanding.

When was the Boston Tea Party? The 1700's? Yes it was. 1773 actually and according to this, it wasn't just tea taxed, it was glass, paint, oil, lead, paper, and tea. The Townshend Revenue Act was passed to get the East India Company back in the black and the hosers of the US said yeah, no! Lo and behold, their government listened! Governments listen to hosers, also, their tax code wasn't a mile high and full of crafty loopholes to benefit the rich either. No, this was not Canada, but we were closer to the States in those days. We were almost all British defectors and depended on each other to fight the power. The government dropped the taxes on everything but the tea! Hooray for the good guys! But can you guess what that tax was? THREE pence per pound! Even THIS was agreed to be outrageous and the colonists who still had spines and still recognized the power of protest launched the Boston Tea Party. For THREE PENNIES! We've been bent over so long by our governments we wouldn't even notice three pennies.

I was offered a job at a school here in Calgary. As you can tell from my previous post I've been enjoying spending time with family since I've been back in Canada. I thought if I could find even a half-way decent job here I'd stay a bit longer. The offer was for guaranteed full-time hours, at least 24 a week with 12 extra per week whenever I wanted. $30/hr. So for my 24 hours a week I'd get 2880 a month. I plugged that into the tax calculator and immediately 30% was taken off the top! That's VASTLY more than a few pennies! And Alberta is the best province to avoid taxes! CPP $148, EI $46, Federal tax $387, Provincial tax $269. So my take-home pay was now $2031. I will need to pay a thousand at least for a decent apartment so now I have a grand left for food and such. So much for ever getting a car, insurance, and a license. Basically,

I could make a long list of other expenses AND don't forget once a year paying my taxes on TOP of all the other taxes I would pay throughout the year. It's far beyond a 3-penny tea tax and we drink coffee in Canada anyway. But what do we do about it? This sign is great but it's no Boston Tea Party and obviously we have gotten used to a LOT more abuse from our government since the 1700's. 

So what if we don't pay these taxes on the grounds that they are contributing to the dehumanization of Canada? We can be charged interest. It can be taken from your GST/HST rebates. Ever wonder why they don't just NOT charge those taxes instead of withholding the money from us then refunding it? Partially so they can use it to collect money you rightfully refuse to pay, but also to make us think (another pretention) that this is a nice bonus from our government. YAY!

Then there's the "jeopardy order." This is a legal document that allows the CRA to take immediate legal action to collect the debt. Needless to say, if this happens it adversely affects your criminal record and your credit rating. This could start the cycle of unemployment I seem to be in right now. Employers check these things before they contact you for interviews and whether you are right or not, they assume your bad credit and criminal record render you unemployable.

That's not all! The government may garnishee your wages or money. That's right, they can dip into your bank account - legally - and take what they reckon you owe them. 

They can collect from other people! That's right, the government of Canada can actually make some other person responsible for the debt you owe them! Imaging being THAT person.

Finally, (but there are probably other things they can do that I don't know enough about to print at this time) the government of Canada can put a lien on or even seize any of your assets. 

Here's the audit letter I received almost exactly a year ago:

"My Account" is one of many government websites and online services that has been disabled for me. I texted the documents they requested and emailed them to the person I reached at the number provided and was told that even though they were received, it was against policy to send them in that manner. I had to go to Staples and FAX the info they required of me. So I did. Well within the time limitation I was given. I guess they weren't expecting that so they tried several things: first they sent me a letter BEFORE THE DEADLINE stating that I had not submitted the documents by the deadline. Then I sent copies of the faxes and the receipt from Staples showing the number and that the fax had been received by that number long before the deadline. I guess they weren't expecting THAT either. People in Canada generally show more, what's that word again?, SUFFERANCE of the government's pretention and lying. I called their bluff. (In a whisper: ...which is why I can't live or work in Canada).

So they finally dropped the pretense and admitted that they had received the papers. They said I now qualified for the GST/HST and other taxes they had no right to threaten to stop withholding then reimbursing in the first place. And the retroactively withheld funds? I calculate about $3500 worth of them. They were not mentioned. I have contacted many people in many ways and have yet to receive an answer as to what has become of these funds. I will never get them back and I am being compelled to suffer this theft. 

Non-payment of taxes is considered theft and we know what the government can do to a citizen of Canada for this crime, but what can a Canadian citizen do if the government steals from him/her? Can we charge interest? Can we withhold future payment of taxes? Can we obtain a jeopardy order? The government has no credit rating, criminal record, or wages - per se - so we can't garnishee or affect those in any way. Can we hold another government responsible? "HEY US, Canada owes me money. They're your ally and neighbour, pay up!" Reckon that'd work? Can we put a lien on government assets or seize them? Or can we dip into the government of Canada's bank account? No, no, a thousand times no.

This is pure pretention, lies, corruption, and its practiced as stone-blind, stone-deaf custom by us Canadians. The government has all the power and we have none. It is only thus because we suffer it to be precisely so. Exposing this deceit is only the first step. Hopefully I'll be alive to see the day when we change this. Despite the modicum of hope I maintain, I don't feel a whole lot of Emerson's sentiment that the world is now mine and I have dealt any mortal blows here. But you never know...

I Can't Feel The Real

*** I'd better post a warning before this poem. It's not me. It's not me or I wouldn't be looking for a place to rent in Calgary so I can stay here and visit with family and friends some more. But this is what I see and what I fear as the result of the phoniness I've been on a posting crusade against. It's called I Can't Feel The Real. I reckon Johnny Cash could write a good song for these lyrics eh?

I can't feel the real. I need somehow to heal.

Family and all my friends

lose the hurt after it offends

but I have to conceal

that I can't feel the real.

 

They say that time can heal. That blood and love are real.

I used to share the joy and care

for brothers and sisters everywhere

but now put on the zeal

cuz I can't feel the real.

 

I have a hole in me that I can't let you see.

That which once was beautiful

is now becoming dutiful 

and even worse professional.

I wear a mask of steel

cuz I can't feel the real.

 

Lord disinfect my head or at least strike me dead

when I bypass the sanctity

of children playing happily,

of innocence and honesty.

I cling to the surreal

when I can't feel the real.

I have one thing to give, one reason left to live.

I will not share its counterfeit

of which there is a vast surfeit

I’d rather cease, surrender, quit

than lie and cheat and steal

cuz I can’t feel the real.

Update and Photo Dump

 Haven't posted in a while. Things have been pretty busy. Let's see... we got Mom moved to Alberta. Mark and Sherrilyn came with their truck and trailer and we loaded it to the nuts with Mom's stuff. Here's the load:

We had a riding mower, snowblower, two easy chairs, a freezer, trunks, boxes, bags, I mean this thing was chock o' block full. Then her bed and a giant mirror went in the box of the pick-up. I added my two bags and backpack and off we went April 18th. This April flower pic was 4 days earlier on my birthday.

Didn't do much for my birthday. Mom had a farewell brunch with the gals from her church. She got me a carrot cake. I was just excited to get the move over. I had spent a lot of time in Mom's place, mostly in the basement, and it wasn't action central there let me tell you.

This is a pic of what I did most of the time. My computer was used trying to sell Mom's stuff and/or find employment and for watching TV shows that weren't on Mom's cable. And the TV I used for watching hockey. I didn't manage to sell Mom's stuff or get employment so I mostly wasted time in the basement. I couldn't get wifi and my data tethering hotspot wasn't good enough to do my studying. To be fair, the course was pretty badly done so I probably wouldn't have studied anyway. 

We didn't get far before we decided to stop for a pee and a look around. We had left Montrose and travelled East toward Creston. I think the route is called the Salmo-Creston pass. I could be wrong. I'd never seen the cabin at the summit before. There was STILL a lotta snow up there! But it was warm and sunny. PERFECT conditions for avalanches! Hence, the sign below. This was taken inside the cabin. 

There's also a stove in the cabin in case some folks are trying to drive over the pass and the gates get closed for some reason. Probably avalanches or just a big snow fall. Then you have to drive back to the cabin and start a fire in the stove. There's usually wood piled in there for that purpose. The roads might take days to clear so it's a good idea to bring some food too. Maybe a sleeping bag or two.

Luckily we didn't get stuck at the summit. In fact it was a fun little stop. The lake near the cabin was frozen over and covered with snow and there were blue jays flying around and landing in the trees. We walked up to the cabin on snow that was probably way over our heads if we sunk down to the ground. But even without snowshoes we didn't. You can get a good idea of how much snow falls up there by the depth of the snow on the cabin roof.

Below is the wood stove. No wood but in a pinch a good BC traveler would have a chainsaw and be able to cut down some trees and burn 'em up. I bet the cabin would be right cozy with a roaring fire going. And if you're lucky you could catch something to fry up on top. Fish or squirrel or such. Boy howdy that's some good eatin'! 

So we got some fresh air and Mom went to the outhouses that are there. Lots of people were stopped to stretch legs. Even a few dogs. I had driven over this pass at least 20 times before and never stopped at this cabin that I could remember. It's crazy how easily you can miss some really cool things if you don't take the time to get out and smell the roses. Or the pine trees as it were. 

So we piled back into the truck and kept going. But it wasn't much longer before we got to Creston and yet ANOTHER of the best things in life I missed out on the whole time I had lived in the Kootenays during my childhood. Tim's Fish 'n Chips in Creston. Do yourself a favour... It's a small place but the food is plentiful and it'll stick to yer ribs! And if I do say so myself it is DEE licious! Since we were able to get gravy I think this might have been the best fish 'n chips I ever had in my entire life. 

That's Sherrilyn and Mark. They shared a three-piece fish 'n chips. Mom had the chicken. The two-piece meal with the gravy beside it is mine. MMM-MMM good! I even liked the coleslaw. You can just barely see Mom's onion rings on the right side of the pic. She agreed to pay for the meal although I think she thought it was a bit pricey. I thought it was a pretty good deal given the huge portions. Word to the wise, if you aren't hungry, don't go to Tim's Fish 'n Chips. 

Just look how happy Mom and I look! It was that magnificent meal. I think we were all so satiated we were ready for naps. Mark and SL look a bit happier than me and Mom. Probably cuz they had a little break from the chaos that is home life with their family. You will see them later in this post but I'll tell you their names now just so I can type to the bottom of the last picture... Natalia is the oldest, then Hazel, then Hugo, Elanor, Gwinnie, and E/B. Ernie/Bronson. I usually call him Ernie but he responds to either. There are two other kids both older than Natalia, Hayden and Lexy, who are not currently living in the house. 

So, we got to Mark and SL's place, parked the stuff in the driveway, unloaded Mom's bed, set it up, and crashed. We all stayed there for a while. Can you imagine that? It was chaotic but I kinda liked it. It was nice to get to know my nephews and nieces a little bit better. And it was nice to play cards after they all went to bed too! We even taught a couple of the kids to play Euchre, an Ontario game that nobody plays out west here. During the days we played lots of games with the kids and went out to the ball park to play Cherry or 500-up, or we just played it in the back yard dog trail. 

This was a hike to some caves we took in late April. There was still snow and those waters had fish in them. That's Sherrilyn with Ernie on her back, Mark in the red, Hugo in his soccer clothes (we all went to soccer/walking after), that's Elanor at the water, G-dawg (Gwinnie) in the green, and Hazel in the turquoise out front. I think Natalia was studying at home.

This was Big Hill Springs park. A light hike in early May. Mark was taking the easy way across the crick. 

This is in M &SL's front yard just before doing Hazel's flyer route. The flyers are in the buggy. I think we broke the speed record that day. Doesn't it look like a Sears Catalog pose? 

This was taken at Fish Creek Park. That's not too far from M &SL's house. Gwinnie and one of the Shaw kids (maybe Ivy) on the back of the log, Hazel doing her gymnastic balancing and Elanor running back to the spot where we were chucking rocks into the water to splash each other. By this time SL and Ernie had gone home. Natalia was there just not in the pic. Some Karen came by walking her GREYHOUND don't you know and chastened me by saying, "How did you break your leg while hiking with grampa?" "Screw you lady, I'm just their uncle and if more Canadian kids had so much outside time and so little screen time they might be as good at climbing and balancing as these kids are. But you be satisfied with Jr's participation trophy while these girls are winning the sports," is what I DIDN'T say. 

Elanor's 8th birthday cupcakes with candy floss. Or do you call it cotton candy? Shows how old I am...

I buried Ernie in the playground gravel. We were using our hats as bulldozers too filling them up and pouring them out. He loves vrooms!

G-dog asked me if she could borrow my jacket cuz it was cold in the Superstore. Didn't fit too great. 

Some avuncular lasagna made from the stuff we bought at the Superstore. 

Hazel doing the ninja stuff again. She's really good at gymnastics. She can do flip after flip after flip on the trampoline. 

Hazel jumping the crick to join Natalia. I like the shadow. 

This is my almost useless hand when Mark, Sherrilyn and I were up late playing 9-5-2. I didn't even get a trick with the King if I remember right. 

More log walking. This is with Grampa George too. He came out from Ontario to help with Elanor's baptism. I actually went to church a few times. Once for Easter, once for the baptism, once to game night, and once to do some cleaning.

This is Hugo and Bronson at church one of those times. 

THERE'S Grampa George. He's a whiz at Euchre! Hugo is not quite as impressive as Hazel at working those posts. He got right in the water. Him and Dad both.

By the end of the hike even Ernie got to play in the water. It was a fun day except for the mosquitos. There weren't many but I managed to kill 6 of 'em. Nobody else was bothered much. They love to feast on my blood no matter what country I'm in.

So after the hike we decided to go out for ice cream. It was a real treat!

MacKay's in Cochrine, Alberta. Again, do yourself a favour...

It was a hard choice but I had the Haskap Berry Cheesecake. I'm happy with that choice. Haskap berries taste like a cross between blueberries and raspberries.

Then it was time to move Mom. We didn't stay long at Mark and Sherrilyn's. Mom didn't stay much more than a week I think. Luckily she got into a good place and we were able to move her almost right away. We didn't have to unload any of Mom's stuff. It just sat covered up in M & SL's driveway while we were there. Then on moving day Rob and Terri joined us and Kiera stayed overnight to help too.

Here's Rob looking like most of us felt. Where are we going to put all this stuff?

This is Kiera loading stuff into one of Mom's closets. It was nice of her to help Gramma move. 

And that about covers it. I'm now at Rob's. I sent my final document to Korea today.

If this is sufficient for immigration, my next step is to buy a ticket to Korea and get on over there. I teach my first class on June 2nd I think and I will be starting my final class of my master's degree just over a week later. By August I should be a certified, papered up Master of Education. THEN I'll be dangerous! I haven't yet figured out the financing but I'm working on it. I'm sure you'll read about that later...