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Last Meeting May 22, 2018
President Phil Webber chaired the meeting and gave the invocation.
Kayo Otake accompanied us on the piano for the singing of O Canada.
Joe Lopushinsky, Sergeant-at-Arms Elect, introduced visitors and guests.
Chair's invocation:
- Miriam and I have just returned from our first visit to Israel and Jordon. We spent a number of days visiting Jerusalem where there is a so-called Jewish Quarter, a Christian Quarter, a Moslem Quarter, and and Armenian Quarter, all intertwined with people of all faiths and probably, little or no faith, moving freely in and about all such areas of the old city.
Subsequently we visited friend in Tel Aviv who Miriam has known since high school. On a short 30 minute trip to the south of Tel Aviv, we oversaw the tension along the border between Israel and the NE corner of the Gaza Strip, before stopping for lunch in the town Sderot, a town within a kilometre or so of the border. The next day the newspapers reported that Sderot was hit by machine gun fire from Gaza only a half hour after we had left the outdoor restaurant.
The experience of travelling throughout the Holy Land and then with our friends impressed upon us how, apart from whatever relationship you or I might have with a higher power, ...with God, there is little that is more important or more life sustaining than the love of Family and Friends. We are glad to be back to share this time with you, to your love, and to express our love for you.
In the words of John Lennon:
Imagine there's no countries
It isn't hard to do
Imagine all the people
Living life in peace
Imagine no possessions
I wonder if you can
No need for greed or hunger
A brotherhood of man
Imagine all the people
Sharing all the world
You may say that I'm a dreamer
But I'm not the only one
I hope someday you'll join us
And the world will live as one
Chair's announcements:
- the Charter Night and Installation Dinner for the new Interact Club at Sir Winston Churchill School has been organized by Adriana Zylmans and is on for Friday May 25, 2018. Arrival is between 6:00-6:30p.m. at DeDutch at the Waterfront in Vancouver.
- The official launch for the 2018 Bike-a-thon will be on June 5th, however, things are already in motion with teams being registered, pledges being made, sponsors chipping in and volunteers being put in place. We are looking forward to yet another extremely successful fundraising event.
- World Yoga Day Special Event Organizer is required: Past District Governor, Shashi Varvandkar of RC Raipur Millennium is a yoga trainer/teacher and is the Global Chairman of the Rotary Yoga & Meditation Fellowship. CLICK HERE to view a slideshow from a presentation Shashi made dated 2016 though still informative and relevant.
On World Yoga Day, June 21, he will be in Vancouver and wishes to have a 1-1.5 hour session for Rotarians, their family members, children, friends and yoga lovers for the purpose of celebrating World Yoga Day. You can make it a Club activity. He shall keep the day free. He is willing to have more than one session if some other clubs are interested.
Generally Yoga is done on an empty stomach. Morning hours are the best. We can have sessions in the evening hours as well. The third option if none of these timings are suitable, just before lunch. We can do Yoga in open ground, parks, if the law and weather permit, or in a hall. What is needed are gym mats, a PA system and a raised dias if the gathering is more than 25-30.
Shasha will carry a Yoga & Meditation Fellowship name & logo along with the name of our club as host/organizer. Shasha has done successful events like this at the Seoul RI Convention, Sri Lanka, Israel, Philippines, and Maldives to name just a few. Good Health for the World is his remuneration.
- Reminder that the District Governor Installation Ceremony is on Saturday June 16, 1:00 pm to 4:00 pm, for Darcy Long and her team at the 101 Brewhouse & Distillery, 1009 Gibsons Way, Gibson's, BC. Please RSVP if you are interested in attending (see information above).
Secretary's, Franco Gallo, announcements:
- reminders of upcoming events/meetings (see above);
- birthdays: Kamyar Asadibeiky May23, Madhu Toshniwal May26
- member anniversaries: Wolfgang Deggeman 31 years
- wedding anniversaries: none this week
Special announcements; presentations, and members' moments:
- Gerry Glazier introduced Holly Elissa Dignard, our Peace Scholar Nominee. CLICK HERE to read more about Elissa.
- Henry Zhang was inducted as our newest member. Henry's mentor is Min Kuang.
- Ian Storrs was presented with a Paul Harris Fellow +3 pin.
- Peter Clarke -- only a few short days left before the District Conference in Squamish. There is still time to register if you wish. Do you need more reasons to attend? Well:
- The conference is where we recognize outstanding Rotarians' achievements.
- During the conference we will be recognizing our District's membership achievement based on goals set out by Membership Chair Tom Smith.
- District Governor Don Evans will be recognizing Rotarians through "People of Action" Awards, people just like you who have put ideas into action and created positive realities.
- And if that is not enough, the Rotary Club of the Year will be presented to a club who stands out among many great club achievements.
- The highlight of the awards, the Rotarian of the Year will be awarded to the Rotarian who has set the standard this year in Rotarian achievements. Look for past Rotarian of the Year winners wearing blue and white rosettes. Be sure to acknowledge these Rotarian leaders for the great achievements.
- Come and be inspired by these great Rotary stories.
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Chris Motion introduced our guest speaker, Samuel Hyman, LLB Burns Fitzpatrick.
Sam Hyman is a senior Vancouver immigration and citizenship lawyer who spoke about “Program Integrity Issues in Canada's Immigration and Tax Systems”.
He prefaced his remarks with a message that Canada needs immigrants and needs to welcome those immigrants who are committed to the task of nation building and willing to do their fair share, consistent with the rights and responsibilities bestowed upon them. Canada must also meet its International obligations to provide surrogate protection as refugees to those people who genuinely need it.
He identified Canada’s “core values” as: truth, the rule of law, equality (of and before the law and in citizenship), transparency, fairness and integrity (in our laws and government programs).
He stressed with respect to equality, that “Racism” as defined by the Canadian Race Relations Foundation, “any individual action or institutional practice which treats people differently because of their colour or ethnicity" has no place in Canada and is abhorrent to Canadian core values. He also warned that given the incendiary nature of making such an allegation, it is also abhorrent to disingenuously raise it to falsely discredit or de-legitimize objective facts to undermine the truth-- especially where doing so undermines the rule of law. He reminded us that Canada’s immigration and tax laws are of general application to all of us. There is nothing contained in them that bases enforcement on one’s race, ethnicity, or religion. People are targeted for enforcement when their conduct violates the law— for their behaviour, not their personal characteristics.
He explained Canada’s (and BC’s) legal and democratic systems and institutions are based on these core values. Truth and the rule of law are based on objective facts. For government policy, laws and programs, to be effective, fair and transparent, it is essential that our politicians seek the truth and base their decision-making and law making on those objective facts.
Beginning with a speech by Mark Carney, the former Governor of the Bank of Canada given to to the Vancouver Board of Trade on June 15, 2011 (CLICK HERE to read Mr. Carney's remarks), and studies in 2015 and 2016 by prominent academics that provided objective facts and data of the magnitude of the affordability crisis were readily available to BC`s former Liberal Government. The studies were done in response to Premier Clark and her government`s position there was no evidence of a problem with foreign speculation driving the cost of Lower Mainland`s housing stock, and their refusal to even study the matter. The peer reviewed reports had been described as “solid”, “correct” and "acceptable by high academic standards.”
These studies disclosed that by 2015 24,830 households—one in ten-- in Vancouver’s most expensive neighbourhoods declared less on their income tax returns than they paid in housing costs such as property tax. The number was 40,000 in Richmond and over 200,000 in the Lower Mainland. He also mentioned the census data that showed there were 25,502 empty residences in Vancouver in November 2016.
The response of politicians to these studies was to immediately discredit, stigmatize, and de-legitimize them by alleging racism, particularly with respect to Andy Yan’s research (CLICK HERE to read related article). Such allegations came immediately from Vancouver Mayor Gregor Robertson, some provincial Liberals who echoed the concerns of the real estate industry who made significant contributions to their campaigns.
Mr. Hyman stated that Speculation in real estate isn’t the only problem. By 2014 a Walker Consulting Group poll commissioned by the CRA reported the most serious tax non-compliance problems in Canada are in the Lower Mainland. He discussed how tax industry experts in Vancouver exhorted the CRA to take tougher enforcement action to preserve program integrity in the aftermath of the Harper Government slashing the CRA’s enforcement budget by $300 million in 2012 and laying off 3,000 staff. In July 2016 a CRA internal document indicated that the CRA by that time had only conducted one successful audit of an immigrant investor of a household described in the Hiebert and von Bergman research. CRA spokesman, Jeffrey Lansing, stated the agency’s focus was on domestic tax evasion and real estate flipping taking precedence over failure to report off-shore income because "that’s where the risk of non-compliance was highest".
SFU Professor Joshua Gordon, quoted in July 2016, called this a stunning failure and “gross negligence since questionable activity in this area has long been suspected”.
Mr. Hyman then placed in context how the passive investment programs of the federal government in the past, and currently the Quebec investor, and provincial nominee business immigration programs of certain provinces with minimal investment requirements, program abuse and lax oversight contributed significantly to the affordability crisis in Vancouver's real estate market. He placed in context how false allegations of racism have been raised to dissuade politicians and governments from seeking the truth with objective facts and how this has effectively put us on a slippery slope of moral relativism that rationalizes our politicians and governments subordinating our core values, the rule of law, and enforcement of our laws core values to those forces that would to undermine the integrity of our immigration and tax laws, and real estate market. He commented on how pandering and engaging in identity politics with false accusations of racism have been used as a justification for doing nothing when our laws and system is being intentionally undermined has significantly contributed to the affordability crisis.
After providing the recent example of massive program integrity problems in the PEI Business Immigration Program, Mr. Hyman brought the magnitude of the immigration and tax law abuses and fraud into focus when he discussed the recent BC Supreme Court decision in Fu v Zhu 2018 BCSC 9. The case showcased massive violations and abuse of Canada's immigration, tax laws, anti-money laundering laws take place, with no apparent consequences to those who engage in the abuses due to lax enforcement. (CLICK HERE to read a related article; CLICK HERE to read the judgement.)
He concluded with a discussion of how Canada has created a large and growing class of citizens who do not, and may never pay, income tax and that the creation of two classes of citizenship based on who pays and does not pay income tax is divisive and harmful to the country, and particularly in creating growing resentment among those Canadians who play by the rules and pay their fair share of taxes to support our universal programs.
Meeting adjourned with a toast to increasing fairness and integrity in our immigration system.H
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