When my country called..

WHEN MY COUNTRY CALLED
A commentary on the call to military duty
I received in 1945. How I responded
and why.
By Victor Drummond ©
November 2008

Veteran’s Day – based on the signing of the armistice ending WWI at the 11th hour on the 11th day of the 11th month 1918 – performs its intended annual purpose of reminding everyone of the sacrifice made by ordinary citizens who served in the defence of their nation. Especially those who lost their lives or were left handicapped in the process.

Having been born in the year 1926 my formative years ocurred during the great economic depression from 1929 to 1939. Our family was in financial distress during that decade and my father was on the road most of that time – looking for employment – along with hundreds of thousands of others.

I didn’t know what it was like to have a regular spending allowance and my greatest event was to get a few cents -- once in a while -- with which I could buy a candy grab-bag at the corner store.

In 1939 – when I was 13 years old – a small White-wear business started up near our home.
That was when I landed my first regular paying job. Prior to that -- from age 10 to 13 -- I was lucky to have an opportunity to earn a few cents cutting/splitting firewood or mowing someone’s lawn with a borrowed push-mower or shovelling snow from someone’s sidewalk.

My employment at the White-wear factory was part time, after school hours, and paid $0.15 per hour. My duties ranged from sweeping the production floor, with a 24” wide push-broom, to crawling under a line of sewing machines to repair or replace broken drive belts and keeping the fabric cutting tables supplied with material to cut. This latter duty involved carrying heavy bolts of cloth from the first floor stockroom, up a flight of stairs, to the second floor cutting tables.

Having a job which provided me with about $5.00 a week spending money made me the envy of my friends and school mates. I now had enough money -- every week -- to indulge in such things as going to the movies, enjoying an occasional ice cream soda at the local drug store and treating a friend or two to the same thing.

The White-wear job lasted from 1939 to 1941. By mid 1941 a local defence industry was going 24/7 producing war materials and begging for employees. Even though I was only 15 years old they hired me as an electrician’s apprentice and I began working a full 48hrs/week. My starting rate was $0.35 per hour. This pay level was more than double the hourly rate I had been receiving and more than triples the number of hours per week that I was previously working.

Taking the defence industry job meant foregoing my high-school education but in exchange I was now earning over $15.00 every week AND contributing to my country’s war effort.


Within a year my pay had gone up to $25.00 per week and I was looking forward to my 16th birthday when I could try for my drivers beginners permit and buy my own car.

Sure enough in mid 1942 I received my driver’s license and a co-worker -- at the defence plant – sold me his 1929 model “A” ford roadster. Furthermore he had a farmer’s permit which provided him with extra rationed gasoline coupons plus a couple of rationed tires per year to keep the car on the road.

Life had never been so good. My friends and I went driving at every opportunity even when we had no where in particular to go. Eventually my gas ration coupons ran out and I had to suspend use of the car to the end of the year.

In 1944 I sold the Model “A” roadster and purchased a snazzy 1932 Chevy Convertible. It had a Yellow Body and Black fenders. It was a striking looking vehicle. There were two spare wheels -- one on each front fender -- which gave some measure of tire availability. Especially since I had no tire ration coupons with which to purchase new tires if needed.

Shortly after buying the Chevy Convertible I received a registered letter from the Department of Defence. Enclosed was an invitation to join Canada’s Military and participate in the defence of the British Empire – which included Canada.

It wasn’t a hard decision to make.

Perhaps I could have requested deferment of military service on the grounds that I was already working in a defence industry. Perhaps I could have requested deferment on the grounds that I was now the sole support of my recently widowed mother. At the very least I could have declined “Active Service” and remained in Canada where I would be relatively safe from harm.

Those possibilities never entered my mind at the time. My older brother was already overseas in the Canadian Army. We didn’t know where he was relative to the fighting but we later found out he had taken part in the invasion of Italy and was in the midst of the heaviest fighting to defeat Mussolini’s army and drive the Nazi Army out of Italy.

My sister’s husband was also overseas in the Canadian Army. He was involved in the “D” day invasion to drive the Nazi army out of occupied Europe.

So when my country called I was mentally prepared to give up my new-found luxuries, abandon my recently widowed mother, forsake my trade apprenticeship, sell my prize Chevy and take up arms in defence of my country.

Had I discovered that Canada’s government of the 1940’s practiced the same lack of decency and gross unfairness -- I have found in Canada’s recent governments -- my willingness to give up anything to defend that kind of regime would have been greatly impaired.

Any rationale -- whereby honest, hard working citizens are legally robbed of huge sums of money purely and simply because of the honest method by which they acquired publicly traded shares
in their employer’s corporation – is one that any disciple of Joseph Goebbels would be justly proud.

When the Canadian government called on us -- during their time of need -- my family and I responded positively and without hesitation. Having ancestors that came to Canada as British Empire Loyalists and relatives -- that were devout British Monarchists at that time -- no able bodied person of military age -- in our household -- would even think of shirking our duty to our country.

Now it seems we were naïve -- to the extreme -- in believing Canada was – and would remain – a place where democracy, fairness, honesty, decency and justice would be equally available to all of our honest, hard-working citizens.

Believe me when I say it came as an unbelievable shock in the year 2006 -- while assisting a close relative to update some prior year tax returns -- to discover that he had been taxed many thousands of dollars on money he never ever received.

This unwarranted tax exceeded his gross annual income for that entire year and caused him to re-mortgage his home in order to pay it.

By what convoluted, insidious, extortionist rationale could this happen in Canada?

So I asked this relative if more Canadians had been legally robbed the same way or was he the only one?

His answer came as another shock. He informed me there were hundreds of his former co-employees who had also been levied huge taxes on money they never received.

The policy of taxing phantom income – I discovered -- was a plague right across Canada hitting innocent, hard-working Canadians employed in a wide range of hi-tech corporations.

INCREDIBLE. This kind of rip-off just isn’t acceptable in my Canada.
What were Canadian tax authorities thinking of? What were intelligent, alert Canadians doing about it?

This absolutely extortionist tax situation must be some kind of error.
An error -- in Canadian tax legislation -- that the Canadian government would correct smartly as soon as they became aware of the problem. (Dream on.)

Contacting only a few -- of his co-workers -- revealed that many victims of this defective legislation had appealed to every government authority from their local Member of Parliament all the way up to the Prime Minister, (Paul Martin) and later (Stephen Harper).

Appeals for relief from this tax had been submitted by victims over the past seven years. There is no way the previous and current governments of Canada did not know all about this defective legislation and the punitive, devastating impact it was inflicting on honest, hard-working citizens.

Most tax relief, appeal messages, were totally ignored. And the rest were given a boiler plate reply which said -- in essence – “you have been taxed according to legislation of long standing and therefore your appeal is denied.”

Since when has the length of time a law has been on the books had any bearing on its quality? Usually the opposite is true and is definitely true in this instance.

The bottom line is:- Avenues of appeal -- made available by the Canadian government to those who were victimized by this flawed legislation -- are designed to discourage all such victims from even making an attempt. When it comes to violation of their basic rights – guaranteed under the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms – no one is minding the store.

When comes to an appeal to the Supreme court of Canada – the appellant must first lose their case in a lower court of justice. An expensive route to justice.

When it comes to appealing their case to the “Tax Court of Canada” – the outcome is a crap-shoot. The tax court of Canada does not base its decisions on the fairness, or justification of the defective legislation.

When it comes to appealing to the recently appointed “Tax Ombudsman” – do not waste your time or his. The mandate of the “Tax Ombudsman” is limited to assuring your communications with Revenue Canada are polite. Not that they must treat you fairly.

How about making a request for a tax re-assessment via the Chief of Tax Appeals Officer?
This is another crap-shoot decision system. If the appellant is lucky they may get a favourable decision – but don’t count on it.

In spite of claims -- by our political leaders -- they are humane, compassionate family people they all turn a deaf ear and blind eye to the unfairness of the defective taxable benefit legislation and the distress and financial havoc it is imposing on its victims.

The only action that restores the right of all Canadians to fair and equitable income taxation, and compensates those already victimized, is the one recently taken by the U.S. Government to correct a similar problem they had with their Alternative Minimum Tax, (AMT), legislation.

They amended their defective AMT legislation and revoked all taxes and penalties based on the taxing of phantom income.

Every intelligent and fair minded person knows instinctively that is only way to correct the problem. As Don Cayo said in his article --which appeared in the Vancouver Sun Newspaper --
“Change the law don’t just mask the problem”. (Article can be found via a Google search)

Every one of our federal party leaders has avoided acknowledging the problem and thereby avoids taking proper measures to correct the defective taxable benefit legislation and compensating those already victimized by it.

My advice to our political leaders on this 90th veteran’s day of remembrance.

While paying tribute -- to those who fought in defence of this country -- try a little harder to remember those who have earned a tribute from their employer’s and for their efforts have been financially abused by our defective taxable benefit legislation.
Ref: - www.cfet.ca

If you do not remember what the words, decency, honesty, justice and fairness stand for – then don’t call on us this time if you need help.

My family and I have already more than fulfilled our duty to a government that picks our pockets while we stand at attention to salute our flag.

See also:- “Canada Remembers – and so do I” – November 2007


Victor Drummond ©