President’s Report
2014 Annual Meeting of the International Fiscal Association (Canadian Branch)
Toronto May 23, 2014
The next item on our agenda is the President’s Report. I want to take just a few minutes to provide a general survey of what has been happening in connection with the Branch over the past year and what we can expect as we look ahead. I plan to move pretty quickly but these remarks will be posted on our website.
Looking at IFA from 40,000 feet, we see more programs and professional activities than ever before, a commitment to engaging our membership across the country and a strengthened sense of purpose and relevance as we face an international tax environment that is as complex and fast moving as any of us can remember.
On programs, let me start right here at this joint U.S.-Canada International Tax Seminar. We have 314 registered delegates, with 65 guests from the U.S. On behalf of the Executive, the members of Council and the IFA Canada membership generally, I want to thank and congratulate the co-chairs of the conference, Brian Mustard, Steven Hannes, Peter Glicklich and Patrick Marley, and all of the panel chairs, speakers, rapporteurs and attendees. Yesterday’s program was excellent and we have no doubt that today’s will be as well.
Earlier this year, we had our first joint travelling seminar with the Canadian Tax Foundation. Thank you to Larry Chapman and his team at the CTF for their collaboration on the program and their administrative support. I think everyone felt it was a tremendous success and we are in ongoing discussions about the future. Stay tuned.
Our webinars, organized and presented by the Young IFA Network Committee, led by its Committee Chair, Michael Kandev, have become an integral part of our ongoing activities. The programs to date have been excellent and have provided an effective way to reach younger practitioners across the country. Thank you to Michael and his Committee and we look forward to more webinars and other activities as we move forward.
The Communications Committee did an excellent job producing our year-end newsletter and we look forward to their next instalment. The one thing that committee doesn’t need to worry about is having something to talk about, and the standard they have set for themselves will keep us all coming back for more.
Looking ahead, we have a strong balance sheet, and the resources to carry out our mandate to foster understanding and research on international fiscal matters. We are looking at ways to step up our support for the academic study of international tax matters in Canada. Side by side with the Canadian Tax Foundation we have committed $12,500 to support a UN research project on Protecting the Tax Base of Developing Countries to be conducted in parallel to the UN BEPS project. And we have committed to a 3-year $10,000 per year sponsorship for the University of Waterloo Centre for Taxation in a Global Economy. We will be considering other ways in which we can foster greater engagement with the academic world in Canada and support for scholarship in the international tax field.
The Canadian Branch is the 4th largest of the 66 IFA branches around the world, and we continue to punch above our weight. When our past President, Nick Pantaleo, stepped down from the IFA Executive Committee, another of our past Presidents, Brian Schneiderman, was elected in Nick’s place. We are grateful to both Nick and Brian for their longstanding commitment to IFA Canada and for stepping up to serve the broader interests of IFA internationally by serving on the EC.
Another of our past Presidents, Robert Couzin, completed his term as Chair of the Permanent Scientific Committee of IFA last year and I am pleased to announce that Scott Wilkie was elected Vice Chair of the Committee, maintaining a continuous Canadian leadership role on that important IFA Committee.
Rounding out our international IFA roles, Michael Kandev will serve as one of the two alternating secretaries of the IFA YIN Committee.
Still on the international side, we have of course the annual Congress each year. This year it’s in Mumbai – I strongly encourage each of you to consider attending – the program will be excellent and the Indian Branch will extend a warm and enthusiastic welcome. And if you have never been to India, it will open your eyes to one of the most fascinating and vibrant societies in the world.
Beyond 2014 we look forward to other Congresses in many places, but we have written to Central IFA to formally request that we be given the opportunity to host another Congress in Canada. Based on the current batting order we won’t be likely to host a Congress before the mid- to late-2020’s.
We have spoken in the past about the need for commitment and engagement on the part of the IFA membership. This has never been more important as we face an international tax environment of unprecedented complexity and uncertainty. The recent development of a formal committee system – kudos to Nick Pantaleo for that innovation – has allowed us to distribute the burden of the various projects we have undertaken, and at the same time it has allowed more members of Council to take an active role in the activities of the Branch. In short, we’ve been able to considerably increase our output, so to speak. But we can still do more.
We operate within a country where natural resources and the regions where they are located have taken on a greater importance in our national economy than has been the case for the last 75 years. It is no coincidence that we are looking for ways to increase our membership and activities in Western Canada. In that context, and with our growing engagement with universities across the country, we are going to be thinking about the structure and membership of Council. We will be seeking input from the Branch membership on these broad issues. You will hear more on that in the coming weeks and months.
Finally, thank you to Elizabeth Hooper, Heather Dow, Heather Wagner and the rest of the Events Management team who organize and manage events like this one, and who make sure we do what we need to do throughout the year. Without them the trains would not run on time.
And a very sincere and personal thank you to the members of the Branch Executive: Patrick Marley, Sandy Jack, Brian Mustard, Ron Durand and Nick Pantaleo, for their tremendous work, energy and goodwill. To put it simply, without their efforts, none of this report would be true.
Stephen Bowman
President
