The Canadian Parvasi - Issue 13

The International News Weekly EDIT
08
September 22, 2017 | Toronto
The
w w w . canadianparv asi. c o m
Publisher & CEO
Associate Editor
Editor (India)
Online
Graphic Designer
Official Photographer
Contact
Editorial
Sales
Rajinder Saini
Meenakshi Saini
Gursheesh
Kshitiz Dalal
Naveen
Bashir Nasir
editor@canadianparvasi.com
sales@canadianparvasi.com
Saragarhi saga - the
unmatched valour of 21 Sikhs
Punjab chief minister Capt Amrinder
Singh deserves congratulations for declaring
September 12 as a holiday in Punjab, to let the
Punjabis know about the Saragarhi saga.
On September 12, 1897, 21 Sikh soldiers (one
Havildar Ishar Singh and 20 men under his
command) of the 36 Sikh Regiment, fought more
than 15,000 tribals, to the last man and last bullet.
Saragarhi was a small signalling post between
the two forts of Lockhart and other in the North
West Frontier Province. The signalling station
was a double- storeyed mud house. Thousands of
tribals lay dead and wounded after the battle.
All the 21 soldiers were awarded the highest
award for bravery in the face of the enemy ( IOM)
to which they were then eligible. Indians were
not eligible for the Victoria Cross then.
When the news reached England, the whole
parliament stood in ovation for 15 minutes.
This is the only instance in military history
of the world when each and every member of the
platoon has been awarded the highest award for
which he was eligible.
I joined the Indian Military Academy in 1954
and was commissioned in June 1955. Never in the
military history class was this saga mentioned. I
knew nothing about it till the end of 1971.
I was then a Lt. Col when after the 1971 war
with Pakistan, we visited Sri Amritsar Darbar
Sahib as thanksgiving for coming out safe
through the war. While going to Darbar Sahib,
on the right side of the road was a gurdwara in
the memory of those fallen soldiers. It was then
that I came to know about the Saragarhi saga.
Why was it never taught in the Indian
Military Academy, I will never know? Maybe,
the government of Independent India, just wiped
away the contribution of Indian soldiers while
being members of the British Indian Army; a
contribution far greater than any other nation.
Canadians still remember their soldiers of the
first and second World Wars with pride and
respect every year.
The Saragarhi saga, as it has come to be
known, is taught in the French Military academy
and the British Military Academy even today.
- By Col Avtar Singh who retired from Indian
Army Corps Of Engineers.
Thought for the week
If you can, help others; if you cannot do that, at
least do not harm them.
~ The Dalai Lama
Is the Liberal proposal to
tax professionals justified?
The Trudeau government
is proposing to bring
all professionals under tax
in addition to taxing their
corporations. Under the
proposed new amendment,
all professionals will have
to declare their personal
income for taxation.
In the present system,
all professionals who are
running corporations
draw their salaries from
the corporation and the
company pays taxes along
with the overall income of
the said business.
Bu the government
is saying that there were
some loopholes in the old
tax system and they are
plugging those with the
new Act. Whether these
were the loopholes or incentives
for professionals
to enhance their businesses,
no one will tell.
Finance Minister Bill
Morneau is proposing
to close loopholes that
allow wealthy Canadians
to avoid higher tax
rates, largely by targeting
people who incorporate
themselves and then draw
income from their businesses
while paying lower
corporate taxes.
The argument is that
certain richer people often
make a corporation for
their main income, then
give their family (children
and spouse) stocks in that
corporation and pay their
families via dividends
which reduces the family's
taxes because the kids and
Dear Brigadier Sahib,
spouse fall in the lower
tax bracket.
The government is
looking to enact some
laws that will tax those
dividends at a higher
rate when paid to family
members. Many political
leaders have wanted this
change. NDP MP Erin
Weir, who has previously
urged the federal government
to take action against
people "abusing" the corporate
structure to avoid
personal income taxes, applauded
Morneau's move
on Tuesday.
Conservative MP Gérard
Deltell, the party's
finance critic, said Tories
would review the changes
announced. "We're open
to a discussion ... but we
won't treat small-business
owners like liars, or as people
who want to dodge responsibility.
We don't want
to penalize small-business
owners too much."
Canadian physicians
are warning that thousands
of specialists will
pull out of group medical
offices and many will ultimately
leave for the United
States because of the new
federal tax changes that
will soon be approved by
Parliament.
For one, people who
benefited from this loophole.
Michael Wolfson, professor
and researcher at
the University of Ottawa,
has
said that the number
Your article in the Sept 15 issue of Canadian Parvasi
about sexual exploitation of girl students by desi businesses
should cause everyone in our South Asian community
to do some soul-searching. While we are very
quick to accuse others (particularly the mainstream
society) of having a prejudiced opinion of our community,
we should introspect and see where we are going
wrong, and in fact giving justification for those prejudices.
Why is it that we are always looking to game the system,
and take unfair advantage?
Wherever we see a system at work, many of us try
to find the loopholes. Western systems are built on a
basic premise of trust, so verification of declared facts
is done rarely.
When we are in India, we are constantly complaining
about the fact that government systems there require
us to provide proof at every stage, and so delay the process.
Yet when we come across a system that is trusting
of us, we betray that trust.
of doctors creating corporations
has been rising
and he has even received
a few angry emails after
publishing papers explaining
these loopholes. What I
worry about is that doctors
with large practices won't
have the same incentive
to keep a large practice
and will either one, reduce
practice size, or two, move
away. I think this will have
a large negative effect in
the medical capacity that
it will affect the Canadians
for many years to come.
Keep in mind that corporations
are also used to pay
overhead on clinics and
the wages of their support
staff. Like most things in
life the market will determine
how much these individuals
work and where
they will work.
Taxation across the
world is liked by the controllers
of the finance and
detested by the payors.
More so, when you make
any amendments to any existing
structure it has to be
deliberated for its impacts
in the long run. By amending
the tax laws we are
pleasing the budgetary income
numbers which will
accrue by the additional
taxes. At the same time
we overlook the fact that
it may have far too many
Letters to the Editor
negative impacts on expanding
businesses, job
loses, brain drain and
even a reduction in the
number of incorporations.
Such impact may
be more counterproductive
to our economy in the
long run.
Moreover, if we see the
existing trend, majority of
professionals in Canada
are new immigrants. Now
as such professionals come
to Canada with minimum
money in their pockets and
entering a new economic
system, this new rule will
hurt them the most and
they are very likely to look
South towards the US.
It is my strong belief
that this new amendment
will definitely and directly
impact doctors, lawyers,
realtors, very small businesses
and it will have a
major impact on new Immigrants.
We may not
end up creating a stage
whereby we trade for substandard
professionals or
face shortage of essential
professional services in
Canada.
I am sure that the finance
minister is looking
into all the pros and cons
of the proposal and that is
the reason he has given 75
days to mull over it. I am
very convinced that finally
the government will see
the light and may desist
from changing these rules
for the overall growth of
professional services in
Canada.
Some years ago, Toronto Star carried out a sting
operation at one of our community's immigration
consulting firms, and recorded them as assuring the
'client' that they would arrange for all sorts of fake
documentation to help them in their application.
This became big news, and the firm's licence was
cancelled. When other communities hear about such
cases, they will definitely form a negative view of our
community. Is our community's desire to immigrate
to Canada so strong that we are willing to indulge in
wrongdoing to achieve that objective?
That some members of our community are willing to
resort to any means to immigrate to Canada is disturbing
enough. That there are still others who see nothing
wrong in exploiting these people sexually brings our
great culture in disrepute, that too in a foreign country.
We need to address these issues before accusing
other communities of having a prejudice against us.
Best regards,
Darshan
Brig Nawab Heer and
Ms Preet Heer
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