Opinion | Money-laundering crackdown is just a way to blame Chinese cash for Vancouver’s unaffordable housing
- Documenting the origin of every dollar is impossible and while the new Land Owner Transparency Act may reveal Chinese are main buyers of luxury real estate, this is no fodder for money-laundering claims, only for jealousy
A joke about Canadians is that they hate rich people — but if they become rich, then they say they hate poor people. Such is the “culture of envy” that flourishes in a country based on political correctness.
The investigation fails to grasp a basic understanding of global capital flow, financial regulations, current practices of “know your client”, and anti-money-laundering policies. Most of all, the province has little jurisdiction over what are federal issues. It is mainly a public-relations exercise chasing the ghost of the Chinese money launderer.
No one advocates money laundering, because it flows from predicate offences such as tax avoidance and other criminal activities. Tax planning is not necessarily illegal tax avoidance. But asking foreigners to justify the ultimate origin of every dollar is trying to prove a negative — that they have no criminal intent — which is impossible.
