Tree Workers Left out on a Limb :CRA SOTW
Alan Baggett
Updated: Fri Oct. 23 2009 18:01:52 - ctvcalgary.ca
Several dozen tree planters recently found out they won't be getting
paid because the Canada Revenue Agency is seizing the money that would
have gone to their wages. At the end of the summer, their contractor
went bankrupt and the employees were still owed more than $150,000 in
wages.
Their employer had the money and tried to pay them before going
bankrupt but that's when Canada Revenue stepped in.
The contractor himself owed the government money as well and the CRA
said nobody gets paid before it does.
They're basically taking our wages to pay off someone else's tax
bill," said tree planter, Alain Rodrigue, ‘everybody is angry about it
obviously, but a lot of people are, most people are resigned to the
fact that the only way we're going to get paid is if Canada Revenue
Agency returns our money and most people are pretty much resigned to
the fact that you can't really deal with them.’
The government has legislation that says that the first to collect
will be the Canada Revenue Agency and the legislation often changes
because various departments are always trying to jump to front of the
line.
One B.C. MP is questioning why the government is doing this,
considering the times.
‘One of the biggest economic recovery packages you can actually do is
pay your workers because they're going to spend it in their local
economies, they're going to support their local restaurant, they're
going to do all kinds of things so really it will probably save the
government money if they allow the workers to collect their wages,’
said NDP MP Jean Crowder.
The contractor admits that he owes back taxes but he also says he
asked Canada Revenue to allow him to pay his staff and that the CRA
told him no and that was it.
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