Before July 18, 2017, if British Columbia was not ruled by criminals, it was ruled by people who turned blind eyes to criminality.
Attorney General David Eby issued a statement that ought to be national news in Canada. It included these words:
…I am concerned our province under the last administration has gained an international reputation as a scofflaw. As a jurisdiction where the rules do not apply to white collar crime, fraud, tax evasion, and money laundering, where even if the rules do apply, enforcement is absent.
It is clear, in my opinion, that the previous administration was aware we had a serious and growing reputational issue. It is also clear to me that they evaluated the costs of cracking down on white collar crime, on fraud, on money laundering, and determined that the benefits of inaction outweighed the costs of action.
Because they did not take the actions required to address the issues we have.
It is hard for me not to speculate that some may gone further and seen a lax approach to money laundering, fraud, corporate transparency, land title registry transparency, as a competitive advantage, or a budgetary advantage, for the province.
…In 2009, the province’s integrated gambling policing team produced a report…
The report detailed links to extortion, prostitution, loan sharking and kidnapping, as well as links to various organized crime groups including the Hells Angels, Asian organized crime groups and Italian crime groups operating illegal gambling sites.
Reforms were proposed to address the identified need, and to improve the ability of the existing policing team in identifying and prosecuting offenders.
In response to this startling report from the police about the need to increase enforcement, the Province of BC, under the oversight of then Minister Responsible Rich Coleman, defunded the policing team, shutting it down…
There is a growing outrage among people in the lower mainland that their housing market has transitioned from one that is rationally connected to local incomes, to one that has no connection to local wages.
Reports released from distinguished economists like Richard Wozny and Tom Davidoff make inescapable arguments that taxable incomes reported to Revenue Canada have no connection to real estate values in Metro Vancouver until you get out to the distant suburbs of Vancouver.
The question that flows from this economic reality is quite simple. Where is the money coming from?
Groups like Transparency International Canada in their recent report, authored by Adam Ross, point out that we don’t even know who the actual owners are of almost half of Vancouver’s most expensive properties because of a lack of transparency in our land registry about beneficial ownership. Offshore and domestic trusts, numbered companies and stand-in owners like students and housewives obscure the source of funds in our real estate market.
Others have pointed out that for luxury and commercial properties, transfer taxes are avoided through a non-transparent transfer of trust benefit rather than a sale of the property itself. Such a transfer results in no change in ownership being registered in the public registry…
Considering Mr. Eby’s comments, we ought to abhor key players of the former government continuing to hold themselves out as people worthy of senior political positions in our province. In particular, Mike de Jong and Rich Coleman.
Coleman, demonstrating he has no regrets and no understanding of what he’s done to ordinary citizens, said in a recent interview,
B.C. Liberals had ‘pretty good’ record on housing.
Many property developers likely agree.
The homeless, most renters and first-time home buyers would have a different view of the last 16 years.
in-sights.ca 
better late than never, good thing I read this great read. some of the comments are pretty good also. it clearly sums up the state of B.C., crime heaven.
Given Communist China only allows their citizens to take $50K out of the country each year, its a wonder how all their citizens who come here and bring millions are able to do so. Doubt if the RCMP will ever do anything about all of this money flowing into B.C., perhaps now that there is a change in government, but most likely not. Just have a look at the surrey RCMP and their unwillingness/inability to get a hold of the drug trade there, even if everyone else knows where its being conducted. They can’t even make it look good by doing a few raids now and then. Could it be that maybe the Hell’s Angels and the RCMP have some sort of “arrangement”. Time will only tell
All this shooting around the lower mainland appears to be fighting over market share by franchisees.
We can only hope Eby gets the go ahead to do what he wants and cleans up the province.
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https://www.change.org/p/government-of-b-c-corruption-inquiry
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Mr Horgan try going to new zealamd instead.
rcmp-really cant moniter politics?
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Has anybody seen or heard of the whereabouts of the BC RCMP who seem to have abandoned any tittle of investigation of our former government and their benefactors.
Oops, silly me, I almost forgot that they get paid by the province to ‘serve and protect’ their political masters and their corporate buddies.
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From:
http://vancouversun.com/news/local-news/chinas-hunt-for-corrupt-officials-could-affect-bclc-whale-gambler-revenue
“China’s hunt for corrupt officials could affect BCLC ‘whale’ gambler revenue
B.C. Lottery Corp. casinos rely heavily on large transactions from Asian “whale” gamblers, but revenue connected to this high-roller group could be affected by factors including China’s hunt for alleged financial fugitives, documents obtained by Postmedia News show.
Observations about BCLC’s reliance on so-called “whale” gamblers from China and Macau, and the risks associated to the revenue that VIP gamblers are pouring into B.C. government coffers, are revealed in a slide presentation prepared by BCLC’s anti-money-laundering director, Ross Alderson.”
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Another quote from David Eby’s speech:
“For example, in one of the more disturbing moments of the many briefings I have received on this issue, I was advised that the particular style of money laundering in BC related to BC casinos is being called quote, “the Vancouver Model” in at least one international intelligence community.”
Apparently Vancouver is known for something other than being able to ski and windsurf on the same day.
Good grief.
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Unfortunately there seems little chance for a corruption inquiry in this province, although one is sorely needed.
Our new Attorney General is happily and warmly curled up beside his deputy, taking his advice on matters of inquiry. And to think the NDP once promised a public inquiry into the deal that very deputy authored to end a criminal trial that would have undoubtedly exposed connections to many of the people and their activities that Evil Eye describes. Now the Premier won’t even answer his mail on the issue.
Most people would be shocked to see the connections. Remember, the BC Rail charges only came about because of a major drug investigation, and the trails that lead from that intersection lead to very dark places. On one of those trails, a young woman was in fact “liquidated”, and her killers have never been caught. Her previous boyfriend was listed as a witness in the BC Rail trial. The drug and political universes aren’t parallel.
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Don’t expect much.
The NDP doesn’t have the will to make a move on corruption and the vast majority of citizens do not pay attention, beyond headlines, if they even get that far.
The voters in the US elected a manipulative, attention grabbing, woman hating narcissist named Donald Trump. They are now courting the idea of turning that train wreck around by electing a manipulative, attention grabbing, man hating narcissist, named Oprah Winfrey and we somehow think we are smarter than they are.
Don’t expect much.
If the NDP desires to make a significant, positive, notation, in the Wikipedia of BC history, they need to ruthlessly expose, prosecute and jail those who are corrupt. The real estate and money laundering files are where that can happen and Andrew Weaver needs to make sure it does.
They have three years to do it, or the same laundered money AND Site C, will be used against them.
Don’t expect much.
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Apologies folks – meant to say ” out of province neutral body.
Not “out of province body neutral”
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Thanks for this one Norm, and a shout out to evil eye, great analysis..
If the police report and related follow- up to combat this situation was quietly ignored. Would it not be essential after David Eby’s observations which are now public record, to revisit this issue by an out of province body neutral with the ability to recommend criminal charges if warranted.?
I can’t see the point of being the top cop in B.C. if a follow-up of potential criminality isn’t implemented. It would just mean continuing business as usual from the current govt. as per previous crowd.
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If David Eby ever decides to oppose John Horgan as the leader of the NDP party, I will reconsider my decision to stop supporting the party.
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Yes, Horgan has become the big disappointment. But make sure the likes of Dix and James are gone two and some also tell Farnsworth that retirement is a good option.
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The behind the scenes operatives Moe Sihota, Bill (the shill Tieleman & his recent health ministry hire wife), and the plethora of labor types who did not deliver their members votes for 16 years now feel somehow entitled to positions of influence. Meanwhile Horgan will never be re-elected due to the NDP’s answer to the Clone speech, Site C. Maybe Lana Popham could run or the Sonia & Adams of the greens will take over once the very supportive of ruin the rivers Weaver is forced back into the halls of UVic.
Horgan, how to go from the narrowest of support to completely abandoning the ideals & wishes of the swing voters who crowned him, a sure recipe for joining the Dodo bird!
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So what’s the option if not re-electing Horgan ?re-electing those corrupt libs? Angry as I am about site c – this NDP government is a million times better than Clark’s libs . I will not vote greens or waste my vote in a way to let those libs back in – in order to make a point .
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Well said Evil Eye, well said!
Unfortunately, I don’t believe a damn thing will be done to bring any justice whatsoever to the situation. If the NDP won’t draw the line on Site C…we have NO hope of them tackling something this big.
Personally, I don’t think there’s a liberal (ex or otherwise) who should be on this side of a prison door – especially if they held a portfolio of some kind. Put ’em away. For life. Maybe future politico’s will take the hint. Including the current ones.
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Leah, thank you.
I have been on this mortal coil a long time and I have seen first hand, the petty drug dealers in my high school days, now become societies top families.
When I see certain people interviewed on TV, wonder out loud, how many bodies are they responsible for? How many people have they ordered “liquidated”.
When I see these certain people hob-nob with the police chief or the mayor or the MLA, I see tacit approval of their criminal past; all forgotten now because they are champion’s of business; attend the right social events, glad-handed by the various Boards of Trade and Business associations. as a consummate business man or woman.
East to do business when you can ‘liquidate’ the competition.
I see certain people held up as an example because they offer box tickets to hockey games and sponsor golf tournaments, to politicians senior bureaucrats, and alike.
Not polite to say “drug money” has paid for this.
The mainstream media are the certain people’s “Pravda”, told to print what they want and not what is news.
Even with the NDP, government has seen to not function and Horgan is taking a “fam” trip to China because he needs a breather because his decision on Site C has all but destroyed the NDP.
I hearken back to simpler age where criminals were criminals and the honest people were honest people. Today, there is no defining line, everyone is tainted by corruption because everyone else does it.
How sad we have become.
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Foreign ownership of nursing homes in BC is another thing the Liberals allowed, which completely irks me. People need to speak up, stand up and don’t wait for others to do what needs to be done. Don’t wait for election time, change needs to happen now, today.
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It’s interesting how the mind set of the Howe Street Gang imprinted itself onto the Liberal Party in this Resource Extraction Economy.
Why was it so easy?
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To be blunt, the Gordon Campbell Liberals courted organized crime to do business in BC.
Casinos became the money laundering operations, where the provincial government took its cut of the filthy lucre.
Real estate became he banks where criminals could invest their money and make a tidy profit of the day.
Politicians became addicted to the “free tax” monies from the casinos and did nothing.
Drug dealing became rampant and shootout between villains has become common place.
The Liberals did nothing. Like the proverbial monkeys, they saw no evil, heard no evil and heard no evil.
Christi Clark took criminality even further with “Pay to Play, where through the BC Liberal Party took a $50K cut of the action.
Today, BC is in a shambles, the poor camping ins squalid conditions, tens of thousands of high priced condos remain empty and families and businesses are force to flee the Metro Vancouver criminal zone.
Political criminality has now oozed its way through all levels of government and plain brown manila envelopes with cash are a common currency with politicians, building inspectors and even the police.
And the king-pins of the criminal organizations now controller BC, they are hiding in plain sight, being pillars of society, owning restaurants, gold courses, sports teams and donating heavily to the politically correct charities where they may get a piece of the action.
This is Gordon Campbell’s, Mike de Jong’s, Rich Coleman’s Todd Stone’s, Christi Clark’s, Susan Anton’s and the rest’s BC of today.
I now am a stranger in a strange land. My beloved BC is no more as it has become home for every shyster, crook, con-artist, drug dealer, money launderer, vile person ever born.
I believe that the rot is now so deep, it cannot be fixed.
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The public has to speak up … The next big chance is the 2018 municipal elections. 2019 could see Justin Trudeau balding and missed photo opps as he slides down the polls.
Municipal elections are where property taxation and housing policies can be changed. If there were Universal Building Codes and red tape reduction… with proven strategies to get more housing units built … the “ Housing Crisis” would no longer be a problem.
Houses are like diamonds. If you limit the supply, prices and demand will increase.
The Province already receives over a Billion $ in property transfer tax. This is “money for doing absolutely nothing,”
If we limit foreign ownership then we will be limiting the money potential for B.C. homeowners who wish to sell their homes for a profit.
Will there be a law that says “ American and British money is accepted … but not Asian? Imagine the retribution on Canadian investments from the American Presidential buffoon.
If the Horgan crew don’t stop Site C along with all their other ditherings … they will disappear like Christy Clark now hiding in shame – peaking from behind the curtains.
The NDP must demonstrate some strong Leadership to survive the next non confidence vote.
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“If we limit foreign ownership then we will be limiting the money potential for B.C. homeowners who wish to sell their homes for a profit.”
If we don’t limit foreign ownership, many BC’ers won’t be able to afford a home. Or they’ll be forever deep in debt paying for one.
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okay so where does this go ..as we know starting …they will just walk away .and Nero will continue to play on and on.until every one lives in a shelter ..on the walley strip.
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