By Canadian Press

Singh promises to ease B.C. housing costs by fighting money laundering

Sep 27, 2019 | 11:03 AM

VANCOUVER — NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh has released a bundle of platform pledges he says will make life more affordable for families in British Columbia — especially when it comes to the sky-high cost of housing.

Singh announced Wednesday that an NDP government would take new actions and put forward the funding necessary to tackle money-laundering and speculation in the housing market. The efforts, he said, to address the crisis would build on some of the real-estate measures the province has introduced.

“Money-laundering and speculation are driving up the cost of housing and it means that it’s simply unattainable, unimaginable for far too many Canadians to ever own a place,” Singh told reporters in Vancouver.

“Many people can’t even find a place that they can afford to rent.”

Singh is running for re-election in the Vancouver-area riding of Burnaby South and plans to spend more time campaigning in B.C. He styled his announcement as a “New Deal” for the province, highlighting new and previously announced promises on housing, climate change and Indigenous reconciliation.

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Money-laundering is a key issue in B.C. The provincial NDP government launched a public inquiry after commissioning two reports that revealed an estimated $5 billion in dirty money was funnelled through real estate in 2018, driving up prices by at least five per cent, and the province has no federally funded RCMP officers committed to collaring money-launderers.

Real estate is useful to money-launderers because even legitimate transactions can involve large sums and it’s hard to say definitively when a price is inflated.

Singh vowed Wednesday to dedicate a unit of the RCMP to track and fight money-laundering. The NDP would provide $20 million — including $10 million specifically for B.C. — to pay for the staffing costs of officers.

He said New Democrats would also create a national “beneficial ownership registry.” Corporations, trusts and partnerships would have to disclose who owns them, which Singh said would allow tax authorities, police and regulators to crack down on tax-evasion, fraud and money-laundering. B.C. became the first province to introduce such a registry this year.

Singh also promised a 15-per-cent federal tax on housing purchases by foreign buyers to deal with speculators, on top of the 15-to-20-per-cent taxes already levied in some parts of B.C. The tax would apply to buyers who aren’t citizens or permanent residents and the NDP estimates it will raise $320 million in the first full year of implementation.

He added that his plan includes a national inquiry into money-laundering. The B.C. inquiry has yet to set hearing dates but the federal government has been approved to participate.

Conservative Leader Andrew Scheer has also promised to launch an inquiry into the issue. On housing affordability, he’s pledged to scrap the mortgage stress test and allow first-time buyers to take out 30-year mortgages, helping more people pay higher prices.

The Liberals have criticized the previous Conservative government for slashing RCMP funds for money-laundering and said their government has done the opposite by increasing funding and efforts to tackle the problem. The party has also brought in a program to kick in up to 10 per cent of home prices for first-time buyers in households making less than $150,000 a year. The Liberals also promise a national speculation and vacancy tax.

The Greens, meantime, want to declare housing a legally protected human right and to build 25,000 new and 15,000 rehabilitated units annually for the next 10 years.

Singh also promised “bold action” on climate change, including immediately ending subsidies to fossil-fuel companies, investing in renewable energy and creating a $15-billion climate jobs plan. He highlighted previous affordability promises he has made as well, such as a national pharmacare program and capping cellphone and internet fees.

He would also establish a new partnership with Indigenous Peoples, he said, by fully implementing the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples and working with communities to co-develop a national action plan on reconciliation.

Later Wednesday, he met with Vancouver Mayor Kennedy Stewart, who used to hold Singh’s seat in Burnaby South as an NDP MP. The pair discussed the opioid crisis, housing and transit, which Singh said are key priorities in his B.C. plan.

“We’ve got a new deal for B.C. We’ve got a new deal for Canada. We’ve got a new deal for people,” he said.

“That new deal is one that puts people at the heart of everything we do, that puts the climate crisis as a serious crisis … that will tackle the housing crisis and will invest in our health care. We can do this together.”

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 25, 2019.

Laura Kane, The Canadian Press