The Hong Kong brokerage might be interesting. Any idea on the name? My only concern is the Scotttrade is in the US and I would prefer a different country, but a brokerage that has access to Canadian exchanges. I found one called Eurotrade, based in Gibraltar, but I don't know much about them.
You are right about Internaax though. Too expensive.
TAX CANADA
There is absolutely no need to file a determination of non residency. I've consulted many tax professionals on the matter and in fact they suggested NOT to do it as it raises flags with Revenue Canada.
I know tons of canadians that are not abiding by the rules and doing things like keeping cars, houses, credit cards, driving licenses, going on unpaid leave from their teaching jobs, have their spouse still working in Canada. I mean these are fairly big things not to do yet I know of no one that has had any problems. It only becomes an issue if you get audited which doesn't seem to happen very often. That being said, I wouldn't want ti to be me. Then it becomes up to you to prove you were not a resident at the time. As usual, Revenue Canada is never clear with the rules but since teachers salary are never an enormous amount of money, I think it's unlikely there would be serious problems as long as you didn't break any serious rules like using your healthcare and keeping a job waiting. There's absolutely no need to fill out a tax return unless you have revenue coming in such as a rental property.
I know tons of canadians that are not abiding by the rules and doing things like keeping cars, houses, credit cards, driving licenses, going on unpaid leave from their teaching jobs, have their spouse still working in Canada. I mean these are fairly big things not to do yet I know of no one that has had any problems. It only becomes an issue if you get audited which doesn't seem to happen very often. That being said, I wouldn't want ti to be me. Then it becomes up to you to prove you were not a resident at the time. As usual, Revenue Canada is never clear with the rules but since teachers salary are never an enormous amount of money, I think it's unlikely there would be serious problems as long as you didn't break any serious rules like using your healthcare and keeping a job waiting. There's absolutely no need to fill out a tax return unless you have revenue coming in such as a rental property.