Resistance to @PMHarper PMO on the rise http://t.co/Dh1xXH17PN – The #SCC by asserting its independence may NOT be friendly to #FATCA IGA
— Citizenship Lawyer (@ExpatriationLaw) March 25, 2014
The Supreme Court of Canada has declared its independence from the Harper Government. This is a necessary, but not a sufficient condition for a successful legal challenge to a FATCA IGA.
The recent Globe article includes:
Last week, the Supreme Court offered a declaration of its independence, reminding the Prime Minister that its power is constitutionally entrenched, not subject to his whims or arrogance. In pushing a highly controversial choice on the court, the PM tried to retroactively rewrite the rules via one of his much-criticized omnibus bills. The court’s stinging rebuke was applauded by pundits and editorialists across the land.
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There a couple of hurdles the government has yet to have gone through with regard to ratifying the IGA. First they need to table the actual agreement in the House of Commons. They have not yet done so(in additional to waiting 21 sitting days afterwards to bring forward legislation to ratify). I thought we might have seen it tabled yesterday and I was watching to CPAC live but it was not(nor was it today).
I also thought notwithstanding the above rules they might have tried to sneak something into the spring budget bill. Looking at the Ways and Means motion tabled yesterday it looks like though there is nothing FATCA related in it.
So I think given the events of the last few days the odds are rising that we might not even see FATCA come to a vote in Parliament before July 1. Of course this brings the question up when is the “Real” deadline from the IRS’ standpoint for Canada to ratify the IGA if the deadline is NOT July 1 of this year.