Thanks Book Bag,
I will certainly follow your sound advice. But let me point out a past experience. In 1996, thinking it was Canadian, I had bought Discreet Logic, a software company headquartered in Montreal. When I received my monthly statement, I found it was being considered foreign content. I argued with my broker of the time, RBC Dominion, that, even if the company was not listed on a Canadian exchange, it should be considered Canadian. The matter was referred to the legal department of RBC in Toronto, which ruled I was right.
And I think what was right for DSLG then must be right for PMCS now. The fundamental point is : What makes a company Canadian is not the fact that it buys a product (being traded on an exchange) in a country or another, but whether it pays taxes here or not. And also, it would not be fair for Revenue Canada to deny companies access to capital on the basis on what exchange they trade on.
Brokerage firms process clients more than transactions and I suspect they simply don't want to bother with assessing the eligibility of companies on an individual basis. It is much more simple for their computer systems to only allow companies listed on a Canadian exchange to be considered Canadian.
Their objective is to make the more money possible, while minimizing hassle, even at the cost of losing a client here and there. In the end it just might be easier for them to persuade a client to accept that something is simply not possible, with the added benefit of inciting him to trade, even if it is at a discounting price.
But again, I might be completely wrong, and I will continue my investigation and keep you informed of the results.
Regards,
Marc |
