Quebec catches up! Pierre Cardin and Jean-Marc Paquin

[Fmotlgroupie]

The news media in Canada are running a variety of articles today on Pierre Cardin and Jean-Marc Paquin, two alleged Tax Protester gurus in Quebec:

http://www.montrealgazette.com/touch/st ... d=10295977

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/montreal/ ... -1.2801016

It looks like a roughly Poritsky-type operation (widespread tax evasion seminars -"free" but you pay thousands in fees once you go down the rabbit hole).

I looked for them online and found a different, Quatloos-worthy business: MLM ad-promoting and alternative medicine. http://activitoen.wordpress.com/ Everyone gets three guesses as to whether it's a scam.

They're also the bright lights behind http://facilitateurs.com/ (Avast Quatloosians, down this link French be spoken. And it's, like, full of trendy business-consultant-speak. Not recommended for speakers of any language.) Facilitateurs.com exists to help small and medium enterprises grow by running them through an automated program called ProMaxScore. I can believe easily enough that this worked badly enough that they had to fall back on the tax scam.

My facebooking skills are really poor, but I think this MAY be Paquin:
https://facebook.com/jmpaquin

Note all the pictures of him with the wireless microphone-headset. This was several steps up from Dean Clifford seminars; you can see how they suckered so many people in.

[Burnaby49]

Some more installments in the Excellent Adventures of our Freeman Freeloader and aspiring Guru Jean-Marc Paquin. Unfortunately both are disasters for his credibility as the nascent leader of the Quebec Freemen. First up is the more minor of the two problems and even that involves a court loss and punitive damages against him! He pulled the usual Freeman scam of borrowing money to buy a car, a Porsche Cayenne;



then refusing to pay the money back on the basis, essentially, that he didn't have to because he was special. You know the Freeman drill. The Bank of Nova Scotia siezed the vehicle and Freddy the Freeloader then sued the bank for $1,400,000 for unlawful seizure. The bank, not surprisingly won and had costs awarded in its favour. What was surprising was that the court awarded an additional $10,000 to the bank as punitive damages for having to put up with Paquin's stupidity. Canadian courts are getting fed up with Freeman antics. This is reported in French here;

http://www.lapresse.ca/actualites/justi ... verain.php

And in a very flamboyant Google Translator edition here;

https://translate.google.com/translate? ... edit-text=

To quote the english version;

According to the evidence presented in court, Mr. Paquin had bought his Porsche Cayenne in 2011 thanks to a loan from the Bank of Nova Scotia paid down with monthly payments. After seven months, he stopped paying, then shipped to its various bank cryptic documents in English, including a check from a closed bank account supposed to deliver to repay the balance of the loan.

The bank obtained the seizure of the vehicle, but Mr. Paquin responded by calling on it to pay $ 1.4 million for "unlawful seizure" of his property. He invoked the common obscure arguments among sovereign citizens, including the fact that each individual possesses a distinct "legal entity" has concealed a hidden heritage too. He also said that the Porsche is a good "created to justify policies for sustainable development", the bank had no right to it.

Problem number two is one of those technical little tax issues that can trip anybody up, even a man as astute as Jean-Marc just striving to find the truth behind government lies and deceit. Income tax evasion. He seems to have gone down the Poriskyite path although this is not spelled out in the article linked below. I've reported elsewhere that the Poriskyites were snared in something the Canada Revenue Agency called "Operation Fable"

viewtopic.php?f=50&t=9390

Well it seems that Paquin was caught by Operation Elephant! The article telling us about it, and Paquin's tax problems is in French here;

http://www.lapresse.ca/actualites/justi ... verain.php

And English here;

https://translate.google.com/translate? ... edit-text=

As the article says;

The federal tax and the Sûreté du Québec Quebec hit yesterday followers of anti-government extremist ideology, which is becoming increasingly popular in Canada and that prompted them to engage in systematic fraud or commercial institutions government.
According to La Presse has learned, the nine searches conducted yesterday by the Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) are part of the Elephant national project, launched an offensive across the country against those who proclaim themselves freemen on the land or sovereign citoyens (sovereign citizens).

The Sûreté is the Quebec equivalent of the Canada Revenue Agency. Very brief explanation. In all provinces except Quebec the CRA is responsible for asessing and administering both the federal and the provincial income taxes. Here in British Columbia we have a provincial income tax but it is just an automatic percentage of the federal income tax. So when I pay my federal taxes I pay an extra portion to the CRA for provincial tax which is then remitted to the province. Simple and efficient. I prepare only one income tax return and, if audited, face only one auditor. The province essentially piggy-backs on the feds. Not in quebec. They have their own provincial income tax regiem and residents are required to file two separate income tax returns, federal and provincial. So when there is something like this, a large scale evasion project, the CRA and Sûreté work together on it.

Anyhow, back to our hero in peril;

The groups targeted by the SQ and ARC yesterday had recovered this philosophy to mount a structured organization whose heads leaders, Pierre Cardin, 59, of Terrebonne, and Jean-Marc Paquin, 44, of Laval, were arrested. The two men remained detained pending appearance today for defrauding about 25 victims who have paid thousands of dollars each for their teachings and services.

The CRA has not accused anyone of tax evasion in this case, but according to court documents submitted in support of its searches, Cardin and Paquin had created the organization's creditors, who organized the large-scale tax evasion. Across Quebec, they formed 18 "leaders" who recruited members for them. They have helped to defraud the state for more than 10 million.

While the article claims that Paquin has not as yet been charged with evasion I see it coming;

The CRA finally claims that Paquin and Cardin have amassed a lot of money that has not been declared for tax. In the past, they returned to the sender correspondence received from the federal government, by signing the documents: "Refused for fraud and attempted extortion." They allegedly did send registered letters to ministers, in protest.

Since he is also accused of counseling evasion I can see that coming as a separate charge. The CRA has been coming down hard on the Poriskyite counselors.

As one purported victim of their scheme said;

"Everyone is looking for a way to ease that makes payments to the government. The rich have a system that nobody knows as tax havens and all that. Only someone who seeks will find many ways. They said they found the method. We took courses that explain these things. I wanted to understand what it was exactly. But it did not work pantoute! People have lost their homes, some lost a lot of things, "he said.

Well maybe they wouldn't have lost their homes if they'd just paid their taxes rather than trust some carnival barker stranger who claimed he had magical solutions to get them out of all of their income tax liabilities.

In the Quatloos link given above Webhick made an adverse comment about the name "Operation Fable";

Operation Fable. What a lame name.

We're going to have to change it to Operation Gerbil Balls.

I shudder to think what her response to Operation Elephant will be, that's about as lame as it gets. Why not Operation Dishwasher or Operation Garage? My ex employer has no flair whatever.

Pantoute!

[Fmotlgroupie]

A busy boy! And like Dean Clifford he's not afraid to practice the nonsense he preaches. The only quibble I'd make is that the Sûreté du Quebec is the provincial police force; Revenu Quebec (whose anomalous existence you describe) must be waiting to piggyback on the investigation when it's done, I guess (or maybe he didn't want to try this crap on his provincial taxes??)

[Burnaby49]

A busy boy! And like Dean Clifford he's not afraid to practice the nonsense he preaches. The only quibble I'd make is that the Sûreté du Quebec is the provincial police force; Revenu Quebec (whose anomalous existence you describe) must be waiting to piggyback on the investigation when it's done, I guess (or maybe he didn't want to try this crap on his provincial taxes??)

My mistake! And me an ex-tax guy. My only excuse is that Quebec is a big mystery to me. I've spent my life in British Columbia and I was to lazy to look the the Sûreté up. But the word "Sûreté" should have been a dead giveaway, even a French illiterate like me knows that is the name for the French police. Chalk it up to an old guy not paying attention after spending a day in court watching, or more to the point, not watching, a local Freeman in action. He didn't show up today and if he's not in court at 9AM tomorrow morning the judge is going to issue a bench warrant. So I have to trek to Richmond courthouse again tomorrow.

As for Revenu Quebec's role in this, I have no idea how they fit in if they are not part of the project. If Paquin was screwing around in British Columbia the provincial government would be entirely hands-off since the CRA would be running the investigation and the province has no equivalent branch. I can't see Paquin paying one tax but not the other so I'm assuming that both Quebec and the feds are after him.

[Fmotlgroupie]

I know the feeling. I went out today for a (very rare on my part) excursion to see a very determined crank get cross-examined by a rather clever Crown. Lo and behold all I got was a discussion of how everyone was going to organize themselves later, in order to schedule an extra five days for a "three day" trial. Sigh. Hoping to squeeze in a few minutes to watch tomorrow but we'll see.

[Burnaby49]

We now have the court decision. It isn't kind to our Freeman hero.

This is the link to the translated version;

https://translate.google.com/translate? ... edit-text=

If you want it in French (those of you who read Homer in the original Greek) it's here;

Banque de Nouvelle-Écosse c. Paquin, 2014 QCCQ 10119
http://canlii.ca/t/gf47p

First he tried A4V (para 10). Then the Electronic Funds Transfer scam (para 12). And look at all the in-court arguments at paras 18-23. But then the fun really starts:

[ 24] Jean-Marc Paquin is a follower of the ideas promoted by the movement known as the Freemen-on-the-Land (Freemen) or Sovereign Citizens (Citizens Sovereign).

[ 25 ] The Court of Appeal of Alberta in Meads v. Meads [1] makes an important decision that has a particular educational value because it describes the movement of Freemen. It identifies those who adhere to the ideas of this movement as "Organized Pseudolegal Commercial Argument litigants" ("OPCA litigants").

[ 26 ] In that case, the Court of Appeal of Alberta presents the phenomenon of "OPCA litigants" their ideas and methods. The avowed purpose of this judgment is sound an alarm with government, legislative and judicial authorities to eradicate the growing abuse of people who adhere to the ideas of Freemen as they present appeal, arguments and defenses that it calls "pseudolegal nonsense", "contemptibly stupid" and "idiotic bluntly substance" (para. 75 and 77).
[ 27 ] In addition, the Court points out, rightly, that in no time the arguments of the Freemen are not retained by any legal authority whatsoever.

[ 28 ] For anyone who wants to know the phenomenon of Freemen and understand its intervention methods and goals, reading this must stop.

[ 29 ] Essentially, proponents of Freemen reject any authority of governments and courts.

[ 30 ] In support of its application for an order of Jean-Marc Paquin to pay the fees of his lawyers in this case and punitive damages, the BNE did testify Sergeant Jean-François Talbot of the Sûreté du Québec works with the Service investigations of extremist threats.

[ 31 ] Mr. Talbot testified that Jean-Marc Paquin is listed with the Sûreté du Québec as part of the Freemen movement by various behaviors that are under investigation, including sending formal notices to some judges, publication his birth certificate from the PPSA, the non-payment of taxes to the federal and provincial authorities, a challenge to a statement of offense issued by a police officer of the City of Mirabel to whom he sends a bill for 212,100 $ and its entry in the "Uniformed Commercial Code" (UCC) of "Washington State Department of Licensing."

[ 32 ] Sergeant Talbot also explained to the Tribunal that Jean-Marc Paquin is in the Freemen movement since repeatedly invokes the principle of separation of flesh and blood with the corporate entity created by the authorities US to her.
...
[ 36 ] Given the abusive, vexatious, frivolous and in bad faith Jean-Marc Paquin advancing arguments manifestly unfounded, frivolous and which are esoteric in nature, the Court concludes that the BNE is a victim of abuse of rights and procedures his hand, which justifies condemning Jean-Marc Paquin to pay him 16 $ 685.01 for fees justified by its bill April 23, 2014 lawyers.

[ 37 ] As to punitive damages, the article 1621 of the Quebec Civil Code provides:

1621. Where the law provides for the award of punitive damages, they may not exceed, in value, which is sufficient to fulfill their preventive function.
They enjoy taking account of all relevant circumstances, including the gravity of the debtor's fault, his patrimonial situation, the extent of the relief to which he is already liable to the creditor and, if necessary, because the remedial treatment of payment, in whole or in part, performed by a third party.
(Emphasis by the Court)

[ 38 ] Since the Tribunal finds abuse of rights and procedures Jean-Marc Paquin in this case, it is justified to award punitive damages under the section 54.4 CCP.

[ 39 ] As clearly expresses the Court of Appeal of Alberta in Meads v. Meads, the growing abuse of supporters of Freemen against the judiciary and the rights of the contracting or opposing parties must be exposed and eradicated.

[ 40 ] Jean-Marc Paquin adheres to the ideas of the Freemen, he is a supporter, and this in a reasonable manner in order to overcome a doctrine, ideology or philosophy that demonstrates a disconnect with his supporters and members of earthly reality and the rule of law in our society.

[ 41 ] As punitive damages, claiming the BNE $ 10,000 and the Tribunal finds that the claim is well founded, especially because of its preventive function.

So the court played hardball with our idiot. For justification it just said "Go read Meads v. Meads you moron". A very satisfying decision.

As for my Richmond courthouse saga that I related in my prior posting;

Chalk it up to an old guy not paying attention after spending a day in court watching, or more to the point, not watching, a local Freeman in action. He didn't show up today and if he's not in court at 9AM tomorrow morning the judge is going to issue a bench warrant. So I have to trek to Richmond courthouse again tomorrow.

An ant-climactic ending. I made a three hour return trip to the Richmond courthouse (bus/train/train - train/train/bus) to find that nobody else showed up, not even Crown counsel. The application was on the daily schedule for courtroom 107 at 9:30. So I sat in the empty courtroom reading about the Norman conquest, 1066 and all that, until a court clerk asked me at 9:50 what I was waiting for. My case posted in the lobby as being scheduled for this courtroom right now. Turned out it had been cancelled because of something that happened yesterday afternoon, an application of some sort, but cancellation not entered in the court schedule. So a wet trudge home. Vancouver is now in the rainy season. We had measurable rain at Vancouver airport every day in October.