Allow me to offer some words of consolation to the Russian oligarch targeted by MP Elizabeth May – as reported in the April 21 Peninsula News Review. Mr. Milner should be consoled to know that even Canadian citizens are subject to seizure of their property – for actions far less nefarious than his.
I am a Vancouver-born Canadian who lived in B.C. for 40 years. My wife and I settled in North Saanich and built a home here. We subsequently moved to the U.S. where we worked until retirement – renting our home to others during our absence.
When the time came to retire and re-occupy our home, we found that because our retirement income is dominated by Social Security, more than half our retirement income must now be used to pay special taxation to the B.C. government. This is unsustainable. Our retirement income is fixed as to its sources and amounts. We are effectively denied the right to live here. We must sell our home.
This is seizure by strangulation. A technique associated with fictional international intrigue is now part of B.C. housing policy. When did Canadians start to view citizenship so ‘cheaply’?
Geoff Lightfoot
North Saanich
