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House Hansard - 177

44th Parl. 1st Sess.
March 31, 2023 10:00AM
Context: House Hansard - 177 - Mar/31/23
Mr. Ziad Aboultaif (Edmonton Manning, CPC)
  • Mar/31/23 10:19:26 a.m.
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Madam Speaker, Canada is a safe haven for money laundering. It is a known fact, and it is getting worse by the day. Would the minister be able to advise us of the following? First, how much would this bill limit or downsize the money laundering market in Canada and, second, what is the amount of money laundering in Canada that is known to the minister or the government?
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Context: House Hansard - 177 - Mar/31/23
Hon. François-Philippe Champagne (Minister of Innovation, Science and Industry, Lib.)
  • Mar/31/23 10:43:39 a.m.
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  • Re: Bill C-42 
Madam Speaker, my hon. colleague mentioned a number of things that are really fundamental in illicit money being used in real estate, for example, in the city of Vancouver, which he mentioned. I want to thank the member for being on board with Bill C-42. The best way to do more to combat illegal activities and increase corporation accountability is to adopt Bill C-42. How quickly are the Conservatives prepared to work with the government to put an end to money laundering in Canada and adopt Bill C-42?
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Context: House Hansard - 177 - Mar/31/23
Mr. Brad Vis
  • Mar/31/23 10:47:32 a.m.
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Madam Speaker, regarding penalties, I want to think of the worst-case scenarios. For years, we have heard so many stories in British Columbia about why the Cullen Commission was put in place, about the impact of money laundering and the billions of dollars that have been laundered into corporations, largely at the provincial level. I do not want any fees or penalties to be seen as the cost of doing business for certain corporations. We need to look at strengthening those penalties. We need to hear from a suite of experts in law enforcement, maybe experts from FINTRAC and law enforcement at CSIS, to ensure that we get this right and that we use this tool to provide some trust for Canadians in our law enforcement institutions to be able to make a difference. I do not have specifics. All I know is that, at $200,000 or in some cases $5,000, it would be seen as the cost of doing business. We want to make it actually hurt when someone tries to break the law in Canada.
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Context: House Hansard - 177 - Mar/31/23
Mr. Brad Vis
  • Mar/31/23 10:52:19 a.m.
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Madam Speaker, I appreciate that my colleague from Nepean outlined the issue that probably needs to be studied the most in this legislation, and that is significant interest. I do not have a specific answer to his question right now, but we need to have that debate in Parliament about the impact of significant interest and corporate stacked ownership structures that need to be viewed in the light of money laundering and tax avoidance or tax evasion. I will just quickly touch upon the impact of addresses as well, which is another point of this bill, and it relates to citizenship. We need to clarify our charter obligations regarding individual privacy, but we also need to make sure to be practical that in some cases Canadian corporations are used for illicit purposes and in some cases we should know the citizenship of those individuals who are using said corporations.
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