Tax havens and cannabis: the federal government cannot confirm that this is clean money

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Maxime Huard

Wednesday, 31 January 2018 17:18

UPDATE
Wednesday, 31 January 2018 17:18

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OTTAWA – It has been impossible for the federal government to certify, on Wednesday, that the millions of dollars from the tax havens in the industry of cannabis are not linked to organized crime.

“The minister can confirm that before going ahead and going further with bill C-45, we are going to do the cleaning in there and that Canadians are going to be sure that there is no organized crime in companies that are supposedly legal?” asked the spokesperson for a conservative in matters of public safety, Pierre Paul-Hus, during the question period.

In response, the minister of Health, Ginette Petitpas Taylor, was read two times the same note.

“We propose that safety investigations are mandatory for the persons who occupy key positions in all organizations. We also offer background checks for large investors who hold more than 25 % of a society of cannabis”, she recited.

However, according to the documents on the regulatory approach from the federal government, this provision applies only to private companies and non-listed enterprises. Background checks of investors would therefore not apply to the majority of players in the industry.

Last week, our Office of investigation has revealed that at least $ 165 million from tax havens have been invested with producers of cannabis would be licensed by Health Canada.

This raises fears of experts and the opposition in Ottawa that the organized crime happening in these countries where the accounting records are obscure for recycling of criminal money in this lucrative industry.

Queried before question period, the minister of national Revenue, Diane Lebouthillier, has repeated that his government tackled tax avoidance, refusing to address the presence of money in tax havens in the industry.

Last Friday, the deputy, Bill Blair, head of the record of the cannabis, has admitted to the “Newspaper” that money in tax havens can finance the industry of pot legal, but that he deferred to the safeguards already in place to ensure that organized crime will not benefit, as the financial markets Authority (AMF) in Quebec.

The minister of Health has moved forward Wednesday having agreements with the provinces “to know who owns the companies, and thus the fight against tax evasion”.

The AMF has, however, admitted to the Office of investigation does not always request that are the real owners of the companies who are investing in this lucrative market.