Taiwan Immigrant : Canada Is Being Cheated By Wealthy Immigrants
I came to Canada as an international student from Taiwan in 1990 and graduated from Simon Fraser University in 2000. I received my citizenship in 2006. I love Canada and consider myself to be a Canadian.
Because of the nature of my work, I meet many immigrants from some Asian countries and find myself very disturbed by the behaviour of many of these immigrants and the bad effects of that behaviour on Canada’s economy and society. In the essay below, I spell out the nature of this behaviour. At the end of the essay, I propose a number of ways in which I think Canadian immigration policies should be changed for the benefit of all Canadians.
I know the Chinese the best, so I’ll mention them first. Many Chinese immigrants in Canada do not apply for a passport. That is because China does not allow dual citizenship. These Chinese immigrants wish to keep their original passports, so they can continue working and making money in China, and paying nearly non-existent or minimal tax to the CRA (Canada Revenue Agency). At the same time, they can enjoy all the wonderful benefits granted by their PR status in Canada.
Many immigrants have no loyalty to Canada, and I wouldn’t be surprised if they never intended to live in Canada.
Again, these people don’t even want to live here, so why do we need them? Most of these immigrants are from developing countries, where political corruption and bribery are a common practice. That’s how they could make so much money, so much dirty money. They just want to buy Canadian citizenship, leech off Canada and continue their money-making schemes in their home countries.
Here are a few ways they abuse Canada’s system :
#1. Annual Tax Refund
I used to have a client who has a million-dollar+ house in Vancouver’s Westside, and a condo at UBC. One time she showed me her tax refund statement and asked me “Hey Tom, how come the government gave me only $1400 for my tax return?”. HELLO!! She has two houses with a total value of well over $2 million. Why was she getting much more of a tax refund than me?? I don’t know how or what that lady’s accountant did. I was just shocked when she showed her tax return to me. I think maybe she reported some kind of income, but she probably had more items that she could write off. This really shows how successful our education in accounting is, and what a bad job the CRA (Canada Revenue Agency) is doing. Like many other Canadians, I have a monthly mortgage payment of $2k for a lousy 40-year-old house, and I don’t get any tax refund from the government!
#2. Old Age Security
These rich people don’t work or pay income tax in Canada, but we still give them more money when they grow old. I guess everybody should be treated equally, but let me draw you a picture. These are not just rich people. Rich people drive around in probably BMW’s or Mercedes. These filthy rich people drive around in Bentleys and Rolls, and their kids drive around in Ferraris and Lamborghins. So, despite the fact that these filthy rich people should probably fork out money to help other regular old Canadians, we are taking money away from working Canadians and giving the money to these filthy rich people just because they are old !!1
Most of the old people I talk to are unable to get used to the life in Canada. Right now I have a client who lives in Richmond. It’s a nice neighborhood. He has a $1.8 million house. Just a couple houses down, he bought an empty lot and built a new house for his parents. The new house is probably worth $2.4 million on the market. My client spends most of his time in China, because he still has a business in China. His wife and one baby live in Richmond as a low-income family. His parents live in the brand new $2.4 million house also as a low-income household. But his parents constantly complain about Canada, because they don’t fit in. Even when they are in Canada, they hang out with their own people in their own social circle. They have never been part of Canada, but they always gladly accept free money from our government, so, seriously, why do we need them? It’s not like we are getting anything from them. Instead, we have to give them a whole bunch of freebies.
Less wealthy immigrants play the putting-parents-in-senior-homes scam. They apply to sponsor their parents. Then when their parents arrive, they put them in a home. But since the CIC has temporarily closed the parental sponsorship program, this problem has likely been temporarily deterred.
#3. Canada Child Tax Benefit (CCTB)
The parents receive about $300-$400 monthly for each child. Again, we are giving free money to people who drive around in Bentleys and Rolls, just because they have kids under the age of 18? The parents don’t even work or pay tax in Canada, and the rest of working Canadians are paying to help these filthy rich people raise their kids? Huh?
#4. No Fee for B. C. Care Card
The Monthly fee is about $69 per person, and $120 for two people in the same household. This monthly fee is waived for low-income families and for these people who pretend to be low-income.
#5. Free Dental Care for Children Under the Age of 18
If these people can afford to live in luxury, they should be able to afford to pay for medicare premiums and for their kids’ dental work. Can’t the Canadian government see that these people are draining our resources? These are the freeloaders and the leeches of our society. We, the regular working Canadians, are getting gypped !!!
These are the benefits that I’m aware of. These rich people’s accountants can probably think of more ways to get more money from our government.
I propose to cancel all benefits for PR status holders, because they are basically just foreigners with the permission to live in Canada. These people are not officially Canadian citizens, so why should they be treated like Canadian citizens?
The Canada Revenue Agency, Citizenship and Immigration Canada, and Service Canada should really start working together to stop this kind of abuse from happening.
Having no income in Canada does not mean these people are poor. These people may have no income in Canada, but if you think about it, they must be getting their money from somewhere in order to maintain their luxurious standard of living.
