Presumably not coming to Ontario…
Anakin/Padme 4 panel meme:
Anakin (Canada): I’m creating a powerful financial crimes unit
Padme: To combat financial crime, right?
Anakin (Ontario): …
Padme: …right?
Nobody said the word investigation.
Didnt we used to have an rcmp financial crimes unit that was disbanded?
The article notes that the RCMP is kind of terrible at this sort of thing.
“The challenge for the is that RCMP has been unable and unwilling to actually investigate and sustain investigations related to financial crimes,” said Davis. “There is a lack of funding, a lack of skills, lack of resources and a lack of political will. But financial crimes investigations are long, complex and require sustained resources, which I’m hopeful we’re now going to see put in place.”
was the rcmp financial crimes division actually unwilling to investigate? Or just underfunded?
This person seems to be speaking in the present tense… in which case, the lack of financial crime investigation seems to be a consequence of prior funding cuts
The RCMP is rife with structural problems. From the CBC’s article on this agency:
Davis said it’s hard not to see the Liberals’ move to create this agency as a comment on the RCMP.
“This is very much a reaction to the RCMP’s inability to do this job,” she said.
Some of that comes down to the RCMP’S structure, Davis said. On top of its federal policing obligations, the RCMP is also responsible for boots-on-the-ground policing across the country, which has drained its resources over the last decades.
A 2023 report from the National Security and Intelligence Committee of Parliamentarians called on Ottawa to create a stand-alone federal policing organization. It found the RCMP’s sprawling mandate is undermining its investigations into files such as national security and financial crime.
Not the bitcoin ATM’s. :( They were so useful.
Financial crimes are a hilarious joke in Canada, I honestly doubt this agency is going to change much.
Like BC’s investigation into money laundering, the Cullen Report, basically came to the conclusion that there were so many people in government and various industries like Car salesmen / Casinos, that it was pointless to try and hold anyone accountable for rampant / flagrant money laundering. We literally had our own government officials enabling it, like Rich Coleman, a “Liberal” (provincial ‘liberals’ were basically federal ‘conservatives’), who decided to fire a task force that was setup to uncover money laundering, when they uncovered rampant money laundering from Asia. Coleman and other conservative MLAs owned multiple rental properties, and there were outstanding question marks on some of their dealings – their hands sure as hell didn’t look clean, and that was likely part of why the Cullen report decided not to hold anyone accountable.
Wasn’t just the provincial govt sorts either – there were municipal leaders, like in Burnaby, who accepted things like luxury-car “gifts” from Asian “business men” who would show up at casino’s with duffle bags full of small bills. Those politicians would say crap like it’s racist to question where these asians got the money, and coerce casino’s to turn a blind eye to the obvious money laundering going on (something the casino’s happily did, especially since local govt reps were telling them to!). The investigation uncovered that those duffle bags were essentially fent money laundering, which was then getting re-invested into real estate after it was laundered through the casinos. No one was held accountable.
So we’ve already got a bunch of history where the govt sets things up, spends a ton of money on looking at the issue, and then does nothing.
This is the Canadian way. Nice rules on paper, but terrible enforcement. I would welcome a change that brings in enforcement that actually works to maintain the sanctity of nice-sounding regulations, but I’ll believe it when I see it. The system has welcomed just the type of activity you describe for a long, long time. It’s in the DNA of the system, and it won’t change overnight.
Presumably, someone at the federal level wants to address this very thing.
I’m glad someone finally thought of doing this. /s
