• Taxpayer Watchdogs from 21 Countries Arrive for Biennial Conference in Vancouver
• Vancouver Welcomes Visitors from Europe, Africa, China, Australia, and the U.S., hosted by the Canadian Taxpayers Federation (CTF)
• Canadian headliners led by the Rt. Hon. Paul Martin, Canada’s 21st Prime Minister, and Stockwell Day former federal cabinet minister, Leader of the Opposition, and Alberta treasurer

VANCOUVER, B.C.: The Canadian Taxpayers Federation (CTF) is pleased to welcome national and international leaders to Vancouver today to exchange ideas, success stories, and best practices in the battle for lower taxes, less waste, and more accountability from governments around the world.

The 2014 World Taxpayers Conference is taking place in Vancouver, hosted by the Canadian Taxpayers Federation. World Taxpayers Associations (WTA), a worldwide network of 68 member and observer taxpayer organizations holds a conference in a different part of the world every two years.

More than 200 delegates will take part in the three-day event. Recent conferences in Kyiv, Ukraine and London England have attracted leaders in government, business, and academia, including former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher.

“These men and women are at the forefront of a worldwide effort to keep taxes low and to keep government honest and affordable for millions of everyday working people,” said CTF President and WTA Board Member Troy Lanigan. “We’re proud to stand with them as Canadians.”

Headlining this year’s event is the Right Hon. Paul Martin, Canada’s 21st Prime Minister and former federal Minister of Finance. Mr. Martin will receive a high honour from the Canadian Taxpayers Federation at a Saturday luncheon where he will also address the international audience. The conference also welcomes the Hon. Stockwell Day, who was Treasurer of Alberta, then federal Leader of the Official Opposition before serving in four portfolios in the Harper cabinet, including Treasury Board, International Trade and the Asia-Pacific Gateway.

“We’ve made every effort to put together a top-notch program for both the international and domestic delegates,” continued Lanigan. “They will get to hear from a former prime minister, and the man widely recognized for balancing Canada’s budget in the 90s after two decades of deficits.  They will also hear from the person who brought in Canada’s only provincial flat tax in Stockwell Day. We close the conference with one of Canada’s preeminent commentators, Rex Murphy.”

Particular effort has been made to build presentations around support for WTA principles of:

1. Lower, flatter, simpler taxes;
2. Balanced budgets;
3. Tax competition;
4. Government transparency; and
5. Taxpayer rights (right of appeal, oppose unjust treatment by tax officials, etc.).

Notable delegates attending the conference include national leaders from Africa, Scandinavia, the European Union, Eastern Europe, Britain, Australia and New Zealand, Korea, the Peoples’ Republic of China, Hong Kong, the U.S. and Canada.

The conference will also honour WTA’s founder Bjorn Tarras Wahlberg of Sweden who retires as its Secretary General after 26 years.