Of the reported $150 billion laundered by cronies tied to Bangladesh’s recently deposed autocratic regime, a large portion has ended up in Toronto real estate.
And Bangladesh is one of the countries looking to developed nations to cure its climate change woes with huge infusions of cash. Perhaps seize and sell those homes and send the money back to Bangladeshis.
Great reporting. Another example of our government’s weak governance structures failing us. Any suggestions on how to bring more attention to this issue?
...perhaps electing an *actual* government would help.
The past 9 years of government-by-student-council has greatly eroded Canada's basic infrastructure, and the huge leadership-vacuum has prevented our institutions from evolving at the pace the changing world around us demands.
This applies to Vancouver as well and probably other cities. So let’s step up and seize these homes as assets gained under illegal activities. Liquidate the properties and give the money back to the people it was stolen from. This has impacted the market and is piece of the puzzle in creating the housing crisis. It is time we had the courage to do the right thing. We need to make every real estate purchase above board!
Exhibit 1000 that Canada’s economy is rigged to benefit an ever-shrinking elite, while the average Canadian pays the price with a reduced standard of living. Funny how prioritizing economic technicalities over the lived experience of most people has led to this vibecession - why, it’s almost like padding balance sheets doesn’t fool people who can now barely afford a carton of eggs.
How has this money laundering in the housing market influenced the price of real estate in Toronto? Has it contributed to the insane increase in home values as a proportion of the average amount someone makes?
A few years ago, I'd constantly get printed, handwritten-style with spelling errors, pamphlets in my mailbox offering to buy my Toronto house for cash. I did a bit of digging, and it looked like a big multi-level marketing scheme whereby individual salespeople would purchase homes for cash on behalf of "investors". Then I noticed the ads on the radio offering seminars on how to make lots of money in real estate. It was big business. The pamphlets seem to have slowed since interest rates went up.
There is obviously a big bag of opaque institutional cash somewhere feeding a lot of the housing market. Supply and demand and land regulation is not a sufficient explanation for the obscene prices that are totally disconnected from labour income. Prices went up simultaneously in G7 countries around the world, so it's not just local development fees either.
Nobody in power wants to address this criminality. Big bags of international money shows up as foreign direct investment - which apparently is good to have - and rising asset prices - which makes us wealthier on paper. Why take away the punch? If you just ignore the colossal debt burden that high FDI and high asset prices places on young Canadians, you can convince yourself that global money laundering is good business. And we do.
I am sure that our governments benefit from this laundered money one way or another or even that certain well placed individuals in government may. We can’t pretend that Canada is immune from this.. For years it was denied that this money laundering was going on in Vancouver and Fintrac and other safeguards were barely strengthened for a suspiciously long time.
Am I far too suspicious and cynical? I don’t think so.
I live within driving distance of Vancouver and the lower mainland/Fraser valley and watched as housing prices swelled to far beyond what could be possible through a domestic market alone; and then the same thing happened in Toronto and across cottage country/much of southern Ontario. Over the past 30 years no federal or provincial government, whether Liberal or NDP or Conservative, offered up any meaningful oversight or controls. In widespread areas of Ontario and BC, the dream of home ownership evaporated for most people long ago. This is DESPICABLE. And it was entirely preventable, had governments given a fig about foreign money laundering right under their noses.
Even now, when the most obscene influence on housing costs is no secret, we are being snowed by laments about housing supply (insufficient), municipal costs (many), immigration (too much) and schemes abound about how to have lower cost housing built, with criminal activity and money laundering meriting nary an official mention. Why do foreign criminals seem to be protected by Canadian governments?
And while on the subject of foreign criminality, why are we not outfitting all of our ports with up-to-date and sufficient scanning equipment to see what's in ALL incoming and outgoing shipping containers? The technology exists to do this thoroughly and rapidly. Why are we protecting the shippers of illegal goods?
Again, in the same vein, human traffic across our borders needs tightening - legal, illegal, temporary, permanent, all need to be thoroughly validated every time they cross into our country. Do we sufficiently investigate, prior to admittance, the backgrounds of every fly-in and
walk-in wanting to apply for refugee status? Are we serious about reducing the numbers of temperary students and workers on permits or visas? Do we even keep track of expired visas?
Seriously I would be interested in any facts or ideas anyone cares to share.
Thanks to The Line and Aftad Ahmed for this outstanding example of Canadian journalism. It is reassuring to know that true journalists like Mr. Ahmed continue to expose the corruption that threatens our democracy. It is hard to believe that these criminals could prosper without the active support of highly placed actors in government and the financial sector.
Real Estate Investment Trusts were spared the tax reforms that Jim Flaherty did to income trusts in the aughts. So when big bags of stolen global money are funnelled through Canadian investment trusts, they get a cool tax break. Nice! We're incentivizing more "foreign direct investment!"
Insane that in an article this long there is no mention of the anti-Hindu component of the protests in Bangladesh and the anti-Hindu violence that has now been unleashed since they won.
I didn't think the quota reform movement had an overt anti-Hindu component (please let me know if you can direct me to information on this).
The fact that a religious minority would face abuse in the absence of governance and public safety following an unplanned revolution is terrible, but doesn't surprise me.
Nor do I think it has much bearing on the main subject of the article, which is Canada's money laundering problem, of which past Bangladeshi corruption is only a smaller example.
To the governments it’s win win. High wealth immigrants/corporations don’t eat up social welfare dollars and juice the economy on paper. Plus the diversity is our strength mantra.
And Bangladesh is one of the countries looking to developed nations to cure its climate change woes with huge infusions of cash. Perhaps seize and sell those homes and send the money back to Bangladeshis.
Great reporting. Another example of our government’s weak governance structures failing us. Any suggestions on how to bring more attention to this issue?
...perhaps electing an *actual* government would help.
The past 9 years of government-by-student-council has greatly eroded Canada's basic infrastructure, and the huge leadership-vacuum has prevented our institutions from evolving at the pace the changing world around us demands.
Canada is not broken.
Corruption in Canada is a feature, not a bug.
Canada's financial and regulatory system was designed for this, and has been for a long time.
We've been in Let's Make A Deal mode with bad actors around the world for decades.
https://www.queensu.ca/gazette/stories/canada-needs-move-beyond-poorly-enforced-bribery-laws-and-tackle-corruption-s-root-causes
This applies to Vancouver as well and probably other cities. So let’s step up and seize these homes as assets gained under illegal activities. Liquidate the properties and give the money back to the people it was stolen from. This has impacted the market and is piece of the puzzle in creating the housing crisis. It is time we had the courage to do the right thing. We need to make every real estate purchase above board!
Exhibit 1000 that Canada’s economy is rigged to benefit an ever-shrinking elite, while the average Canadian pays the price with a reduced standard of living. Funny how prioritizing economic technicalities over the lived experience of most people has led to this vibecession - why, it’s almost like padding balance sheets doesn’t fool people who can now barely afford a carton of eggs.
How has this money laundering in the housing market influenced the price of real estate in Toronto? Has it contributed to the insane increase in home values as a proportion of the average amount someone makes?
I’m sure it hasn’t helped.
https://betterdwelling.com/how-a-little-money-laundering-can-have-a-big-impact-on-real-estate-prices/#google_vignette
A few years ago, I'd constantly get printed, handwritten-style with spelling errors, pamphlets in my mailbox offering to buy my Toronto house for cash. I did a bit of digging, and it looked like a big multi-level marketing scheme whereby individual salespeople would purchase homes for cash on behalf of "investors". Then I noticed the ads on the radio offering seminars on how to make lots of money in real estate. It was big business. The pamphlets seem to have slowed since interest rates went up.
There is obviously a big bag of opaque institutional cash somewhere feeding a lot of the housing market. Supply and demand and land regulation is not a sufficient explanation for the obscene prices that are totally disconnected from labour income. Prices went up simultaneously in G7 countries around the world, so it's not just local development fees either.
Nobody in power wants to address this criminality. Big bags of international money shows up as foreign direct investment - which apparently is good to have - and rising asset prices - which makes us wealthier on paper. Why take away the punch? If you just ignore the colossal debt burden that high FDI and high asset prices places on young Canadians, you can convince yourself that global money laundering is good business. And we do.
I am sure that our governments benefit from this laundered money one way or another or even that certain well placed individuals in government may. We can’t pretend that Canada is immune from this.. For years it was denied that this money laundering was going on in Vancouver and Fintrac and other safeguards were barely strengthened for a suspiciously long time.
Am I far too suspicious and cynical? I don’t think so.
I live within driving distance of Vancouver and the lower mainland/Fraser valley and watched as housing prices swelled to far beyond what could be possible through a domestic market alone; and then the same thing happened in Toronto and across cottage country/much of southern Ontario. Over the past 30 years no federal or provincial government, whether Liberal or NDP or Conservative, offered up any meaningful oversight or controls. In widespread areas of Ontario and BC, the dream of home ownership evaporated for most people long ago. This is DESPICABLE. And it was entirely preventable, had governments given a fig about foreign money laundering right under their noses.
Even now, when the most obscene influence on housing costs is no secret, we are being snowed by laments about housing supply (insufficient), municipal costs (many), immigration (too much) and schemes abound about how to have lower cost housing built, with criminal activity and money laundering meriting nary an official mention. Why do foreign criminals seem to be protected by Canadian governments?
And while on the subject of foreign criminality, why are we not outfitting all of our ports with up-to-date and sufficient scanning equipment to see what's in ALL incoming and outgoing shipping containers? The technology exists to do this thoroughly and rapidly. Why are we protecting the shippers of illegal goods?
Again, in the same vein, human traffic across our borders needs tightening - legal, illegal, temporary, permanent, all need to be thoroughly validated every time they cross into our country. Do we sufficiently investigate, prior to admittance, the backgrounds of every fly-in and
walk-in wanting to apply for refugee status? Are we serious about reducing the numbers of temperary students and workers on permits or visas? Do we even keep track of expired visas?
Seriously I would be interested in any facts or ideas anyone cares to share.
Great analysis. But is Bangladesh the only source of Canadian laundered funds?
https://betterdwelling.com/canadas-largest-source-of-money-laundered-funds-for-real-estate-is-canadians/
Thanks to The Line and Aftad Ahmed for this outstanding example of Canadian journalism. It is reassuring to know that true journalists like Mr. Ahmed continue to expose the corruption that threatens our democracy. It is hard to believe that these criminals could prosper without the active support of highly placed actors in government and the financial sector.
Canada has long had the reputation as the "World's Maytag Laundering Machine".
Real Estate Investment Trusts were spared the tax reforms that Jim Flaherty did to income trusts in the aughts. So when big bags of stolen global money are funnelled through Canadian investment trusts, they get a cool tax break. Nice! We're incentivizing more "foreign direct investment!"
Insane that in an article this long there is no mention of the anti-Hindu component of the protests in Bangladesh and the anti-Hindu violence that has now been unleashed since they won.
I didn't think the quota reform movement had an overt anti-Hindu component (please let me know if you can direct me to information on this).
The fact that a religious minority would face abuse in the absence of governance and public safety following an unplanned revolution is terrible, but doesn't surprise me.
Nor do I think it has much bearing on the main subject of the article, which is Canada's money laundering problem, of which past Bangladeshi corruption is only a smaller example.
To the governments it’s win win. High wealth immigrants/corporations don’t eat up social welfare dollars and juice the economy on paper. Plus the diversity is our strength mantra.
It's just tiring.