A strong middle-class economy is one where everyone is able to work hard, get ahead and afford the things that matter to them — such as buying a home, saving for retirement or putting food on the table.
That’s the foundation our economy is built on, and it underscores every step our federal government has taken to cut taxes for the middle class and help businesses stay competitive.
But when people don’t play by the rules, everything becomes harder to afford. Money laundering and criminal activity have long driven up the costs of living for Canadians, with people willing to break the laws so they can pocket more wealth.
In British Columbia, the costs of living and housing have increased as a result of money laundering, and lives have been lost because of those looking to earn a profit through drug trafficking. But this issue is not relegated to one province; it is a pervasive problem that needs to be addressed wherever it occurs.
Though it can be difficult to determine the full scope of illegal activity in the market, over the past few weeks we have learned more thanks to the work of Peter German and the expert panel on money laundering led by Prof. Maureen Maloney.
Yet this has been a growing problem for far too long. After the previous Conservative government cut more than half a billion dollars from the RCMP’s budget, denying it the necessary resources needed to combat organized crime and disbanding the RCMP’s Proceeds of Crime Unit, money laundering and organized crime continued to profit in Canada.
When the Liberal Party came into office, we wanted to take a new approach — working with our provincial partners and police forces. Our officers have long protected our communities to the best of their abilities to keep Canadians safe. They have often done this with scarce resources at their disposal and thresholds that were unable to be met.
To help keep illegal money out of communities across Canada, we brought forward significant measures to prevent, detect and address money laundering wherever it arises.
This includes earmarking more than $162 million to support law enforcement and establish new audit teams to inspect suspicious real-estate purchases and international financial flows. We’re also proposing an integrated plan to strengthen and modernize Canada’s anti-money-laundering regime.
That also means new penalties for aiding in money laundering through a new offence of recklessness in the Criminal Code, which will reduce the burden of proof required for a conviction to include those who oversee the transfer of a large sum of suspicious dollars in a careless manner.
Additionally, new regulations will also bring oversight to virtual currency, and give the RCMP, FINTRAC, Canada Border Services Agency and the Canada Revenue Agency more tools to do their important work.
Finally, we’re working with provinces to strengthen beneficial-ownership transparency by requiring federally incorporated corporations to make information more readily available to tax authorities and law enforcement. Knowing clearly who owns what will help us stop those using corporations to evade taxes, launder money, finance terrorism and trade in dangerous goods such as firearms.
This is a complex issue that does not have one simple solution. That is why all levels of government must work together, along with law enforcement and our international partners to ensure the measures we are taking are effective.
Those who operate outside the scope of the law by laundering illegal funds and trafficking deadly drugs are hurting communities by making life unaffordable while putting lives at risk. By providing necessary resources and tools to law enforcement, making changes to our laws and sharing information, we will make it harder to move illegal money, make it more likely criminals will be caught and ensure successful prosecutions.
We have to do better for the Canadians who work hard and follow the laws. They deserve to feel safe in their communities and to live in an economy that rewards their honest hard work, so that’s exactly the economy we’re going to build.
Bill Blair is Canada’s minister of border security and organized crime reduction.
