SoVote

Decentralized Democracy

House Hansard - 42

44th Parl. 1st Sess.
March 21, 2022 11:00AM
Context: House Hansard - 42 - Mar/21/22
Ms. Heather McPherson (Edmonton Strathcona, NDP)
  • Mar/21/22 3:07:46 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, over three million people have now fled the violence in Ukraine. Civilians are being bombed in their homes and even in hospitals. They are desperate for support. Economic sanctions are a strong tool we have to force Putin to stop committing war crimes. However, the sanctions announced by the government will not have the desired effect if they are not properly enforced. Will the minister commit to the NDP ask for ownership of assets to be made public and tell Canadians how many Russian assets have been frozen since the most recent invasion of Ukraine?
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Context: House Hansard - 42 - Mar/21/22
Ms. Lisa Marie Barron
  • Mar/21/22 3:51:37 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, we know that in 2018, the amount of money laundering was estimated at $5.3 billion just in British Columbia, my home province, through the real estate sector. We know that money laundering through home purchases is putting an upward pressure on prices. I think we can all agree on that. We need to see the Liberal government implementing transparency tools that discourage money laundering by criminals and the wealthy at a pace that is much quicker than what we are seeing today. That is why we are putting forward in this motion the need for a beneficial ownership registry that creates a means for us to shine a light on the assets and properties that are owned and may be otherwise hidden by shell companies. I am in agreement that we need to do all we can to move forward.
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Context: House Hansard - 42 - Mar/21/22
Ms. Elizabeth May (Saanich—Gulf Islands, GP)
  • Mar/21/22 5:25:52 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, I would say to my hon. colleague that I am particularly concerned. Since this has come up in her speech, what can we start doing? We know this is about beneficial ownership that is absolutely hidden. Foreign corporations can be running shell companies in Canada. There is no way to track them down. This applies across a number of provinces as well as federally. Canada is now being advertised in places like Russia as the place to hide one's assets. A recent report called “Snow-washing, Inc.” draws attention to it, so it is both federal and provincial. I would love to hear my hon. colleague's comments on when we can crack down on this, particularly in light of what has happened with respect to the Russian assets of oligarchs around the world.
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Context: House Hansard - 42 - Mar/21/22
Ms. Julie Dzerowicz
  • Mar/21/22 5:26:42 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, I want to thank the hon. member for her excellent question and for bringing this back to the fore. I agree 100% that we need to do everything we can to bring this beneficial ownership registry into effect. We have to do everything we can to make sure it is transparent with respect to who owns the public assets. This should be a key priority for our government moving forward.
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