Opinion
Taxpayers DO have the right to remain silent
A taxpayer-friendly unanimous Federal Court of Appeal ruling came out this week in MNR v Cameco [2019 FCA 67]. At issue was whether or not the Minister (through the CRA) has the authority to compel oral answers to oral questions from taxpayers or their employees.
In his ruling, Justice of Appeal Rennie stated “…the Minister does not have the power to compel a taxpayer to answer questions at the audit stage…”, however, it may be in the best interest of the taxpayer to provide reasonable answers to reasonable questions in order to expedite the process. The full entire ruling can be found and read here
This ruling simply re-confirms, that even in an audit, you (and your staff) have the right to remain silent, and that the Minister’s powers are limited to physical evidence.
An exception to this is you are required to provide assistance in locating and providing that physical evidence, which may need to be orally.
Personally, when dealing with a very large number of taxpayers on our own office, we want to be certain that the file that the CRA is talking about is the same file in front of us. As such, we are a firm believer in the Canadian Home Builders’ Association motto that is ironically supported by the Government of Canada: “Get it in Writing.”
I am not advocating answering no questions, as the Minister (CRA) still has the ability to issue reassessments, thereby shifting burden of proof to the taxpayer further to disprove the reassessment.
I am, however, advocating at a minimum to get those questions detailed, and in writing. This will help to provide clarity and allow for proper thought in your answers as opposed to stating something with unintended consequences.
Here is a little example of what happens when you don’t get it in writing: in my dark-side days as a field auditor with the (then called) CCRA, we used to ask prying questions that the taxpayer had no idea they were answering.
For example, in one particular circumstance I was reviewing a file where it was suggested that the taxpayer was doing under-the-table cash jobs. This meant I would have to be creative in figuring out the taxpayer’s cost of living, and ruling out other sources of income.
Meeting in a quiet restaurant in a small Saskatchewan town, I was eventually able to have the taxpayer relaxed enough to think that we were having a normal conversation. Just a couple of ‘Riders fans that aren’t a fan of Ottawa, but hey, I have a job to do. When the taxpayer started complaining about the government, I joined in:
“Hey, I hear you. I’m not some suit from Ottawa. I’m from Regina. I mean both the feds and the province already get enough out of me from tax on my smokes.”
I don’t smoke.
The taxpayer didn’t know that, but the anger was timely because the province had just raised up the cigarette tax the previous year so packs were well over $6 a pack.
“Yeah I know”, the taxpayer said, “I smoke a pack a day”.
Music to my ears as a tax auditor, the taxpayer just told me that they need ($6 x 365) = $2,190 of after-tax income just to feed their cigarette habit.
I continued, “That’s terrible! Between getting our money on that, and getting it at the casino, it’s just crazy how much they make it hard to enjoy our weekends.”
“Yeah, I don’t win nuthin’ at the casino either,” the taxpayer stated.
To me I heard ‘I didn’t have any non-taxable casino winnings. In fact, the taxpayer likely had lost money in the year. This means the taxpayer needed to have more disposable income to gamble.’
The conversation continued for a good 30 minutes. Once I was armed with more knowledge of the taxpayer’s lifestyle and spending habits, I went to work. Bank statements, receipts, mileage information, fuel costs, type of vehicle, etc.
We would use information tools not only from Statistics Canada for price of fuel in different regions, we would also use websites like www.fueleconomy.gov that provide different estimated fuel consumption based on type of use and mileage going back to cars from the 1980s. Then we work backwards to see if the numbers made sense with respect to the taxpayer’s vehicle and costs.
When it was all said and done, I used the results of our conversation against the taxpayer. When I was finished, I found over $30,000 in an income variance between the taxpayer’s living costs and change in net worth compared to what was reported. Not only that, but the taxpayer had already backed themselves into a corner because of the questions that were answered which I had documented.
My guess is that in conclusion, the taxpayer thought they should have got the questions in writing instead of meeting me at a restaurant.
—
Cory G. Litzenberger, CPA, CMA, CFP, C.Mgr is the President & Founder of CGL Strategic Business & Tax Advisors; you can find out more about Cory’s biography at http://www.CGLtax.ca/Litzenberger-Cory.html
Business
Breaking: Explosive FBI Warning—CCP, Iran, and Mex-Cartels Partnering in Canada to Move Fentanyl and Terrorists Into U.S.
Sam Cooper
Patel’s warning echoes The Bureau’s exclusive reporting on a criminal convergence linking CCP-backed chemical suppliers, Iranian proxies, and Mexican cartels operating through Vancouver superlabs
In an explosive Sunday interview that will place tremendous pressure on Prime Minister Mark Carney’s new Liberal government, FBI Director Kash Patel alleged that Mexican cartels, Chinese Communist Party operatives, and Iranian threat actors have forged a new axis of criminal cooperation, using Canada’s porous northern border and the Port of Vancouver—not the southern Mexican border—as their preferred entry point to flood fentanyl and terror suspects into the United States.
“In the first two, three months that we’ve been in the seat under Donald Trump’s administration, he has sealed the border,” Patel told Fox News’ Maria Bartiromo. “He has stopped border crossings. So where’s all the fentanyl coming from? Still? Where’s the trafficking coming from still? Where are all the narco traffickers going to keep bringing this stuff into the country? The northern border. Our adversaries have partnered up with the CCP and others—Russia, Iran—on a variety of different criminal enterprises. And they’re going and they’re sailing around to Vancouver and coming in by air.”
Patel asserted that adversarial regimes—including Beijing and Tehran—are now working in tandem on “a variety of different criminal enterprises,” and exploiting what he called the “sheer tyranny of distance” on America’s northern frontier, where vast terrain and lax enforcement in Canada have allegedly enabled fentanyl pipelines and terrorist infiltration.
Pointing directly at Carney’s government, Patel continued:
“Now we’re focused on it and we’re calling our state and local law enforcement partners up [at the northern border]. But you know, who has to get to step in is Canada—because they’re making it up there and shipping it down here.”
The FBI director’s warning—posted on the White House’s X account— follows exclusive reporting by The Bureau and a newly released 2025 threat assessment from the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration, which, for the first time, officially flags Canada as an emerging threat node in the North American drug supply chain.
As The Bureau reported earlier this week, the DEA highlighted the dismantling of a fentanyl “super laboratory” in October 2024 in Falkland, British Columbia—a mountainous corridor between Vancouver and Calgary—as an emerging threat in fentanyl trafficking targeting the United States. Sources pointed to the same converged threat network—China, Iran, and Mexico—mentioned today by FBI Director Kash Patel.
“According to these sources,” The Bureau reported Friday, “the site forms part of a broader criminal convergence involving Chinese, Mexican, and Iranian networks operating across British Columbia, Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba, Ontario, and Quebec. The Bureau’s sources indicate that the Falkland facility was connected to Chinese chemical exporters sanctioned by the United States Treasury, Iranian threat actors, and operatives from Mexican drug cartels.”
In his remarks today, Patel appeared to directly link this criminal convergence to terrorist infiltration.
“And I’ll give you a statistic that I gave to Congress that nobody was paying attention to,” Patel added. “Over 300 known or suspected terrorists crossed into this country last year, illegally… 85 percent of them came in through the northern border.”
Patel also appeared to turn up the political pressure on Ottawa, alluding to President Trump’s recent controversial statements about Canada—which became a flashpoint in the federal election, with many voters embracing the Liberal Party’s campaign framing Carney as a bulwark against Trump.
“I don’t care about getting into this debate about making someone the 51st state or not,” Patel said, referencing Trump’s remarks. “But [Canada] are a partner in the north. And say what you want about Mexico—but they helped us seal the southern border. But facts speak for themselves. It’s the [northern] border that’s open.”
The Bureau will continue to follow this story in the coming week.
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MxM News
Quick Hit:
President Trump says he’ll speak with Vladimir Putin by phone Monday at 10 a.m. to stop the Ukraine “bloodbath,” calling for a ceasefire and an end to a war he says “should have never happened.”
Key Details:
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On Saturday, Trump revealed his plans in a Truth Social post, writing: “THE SUBJECTS OF THE CALL WILL BE, STOPPING THE ‘BLOODBATH’ THAT IS KILLING, ON AVERAGE, MORE THAN 5000 RUSSIAN AND UKRAINIAN SOLDIERS A WEEK.”
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Trump added that he also intends to reach out to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and NATO leaders. “HOPEFULLY IT WILL BE A PRODUCTIVE DAY.”
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Secretary of State Marco Rubio held a round of discussions with Ukrainian and Russian delegations Thursday in Turkey, followed by a Saturday phone call with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov. The talks produced an agreement for a 1,000-for-1,000 prisoner exchange.
— Rapid Response 47 (@RapidResponse47) May 17, 2025
Diving Deeper:
President Trump said Saturday he will hold a direct call with Vladimir Putin on Monday in an attempt to broker a cease-fire in Ukraine, which he described as a “very violent war” that “should have never happened.” His announcement came amid renewed international attention on negotiations after Putin refused to personally attend this week’s summit in Istanbul, opting instead to send a lower-level delegation led by former cultural minister Vladimir Medinsky.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, who had hoped to meet Putin face-to-face, publicly criticized the move. “Russia once again demonstrated that it does not intend to end the war,” Zelensky said Thursday on X. “Such a Russian approach is a sign of disrespect—toward the world and all partners.”
As Kyiv pushes for a 30-day cease-fire, the Kremlin has made clear it wants Ukrainian forces to withdraw from Russian-occupied regions including Donetsk, Luhansk, Zaporizhzhia, and Kherson. Despite these tensions, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, acting on Trump’s behalf, managed to secure an agreement for a prisoner swap during Thursday’s talks. “President Trump’s call for an immediate ceasefire and an end to the violence” was the focus of follow-up communications, according to State Department spokeswoman Tammy Bruce.
Trump told Fox News host Bret Baier on Friday that Zelensky had “pissed away” billions of dollars in U.S. aid, while expressing optimism about halting the war. “We inherited this mess, but I think it’s going to get solved,” Trump said. “I think we’ll do it fast,” adding that Putin “is tired of this whole thing. He’s not looking good, and he wants to look good.”
In his Truth Social post, Trump emphasized both humanitarian and strategic goals for the Monday conversation. Alongside his effort to halt the fighting, Trump said trade would also be discussed during the 10:00 a.m. call with Putin. He reiterated his desire to quickly bring the conflict to an end and restore stability, ending: “GOD BLESS US ALL!!!”
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