The BC Government today released Peter German’s long awaited report on money laundering in Lower Mainland casinos.

The report, entitled Dirty Money: An Independent Review of Money Laundering in Lower Mainland Casinos conducted for the Attorney General of British Columbia, demonstrates systemic failure within the previous government to adapt our laws and regulations to changing realities.

Below is the media release we issued in response to the report’s release.

Media Release

Weaver: German report demonstrates need for systemic change, investigation into links with real estate sector
For immediate release
June 26, 2018

VICTORIA, B.C. – Andrew Weaver, leader of the B.C. Green Party, welcomed Dr. Peter German’s independent review of money laundering in Lower Mainland casinos. Weaver says that German’s finding that large-scale transnational money laundering has been occurring in our casinos, and that B.C.’s laws and regulations have not kept pace with changing realities, demonstrates the need for wholesale policy change.

“Dr. German’s report demonstrates systemic failure within the previous government to adapt our laws and regulations to changing realities,” said Weaver.

“We have seen significant growth and change, both in B.C. and globally, since many of our laws and regulations were first developed. Outdated policies have left our province vulnerable to exploitation as transnational criminal entities have become increasingly more sophisticated.

“It is encouraging to hear that recent government actions have led to a significant reduction in suspicious activity in B.C. casinos, and I am pleased that the Attorney General has accepted the recommendations. What is most important now is that government provide clear timelines for implementing the recommendations and is transparent with regards to progress. In particular, the recommendation that the Province undertake research into allegations of organized crime penetration of the real estate industry should be at the top of government’s agenda. British Columbians are looking for answers as to why our housing market spiralled out of control so quickly and if we are to develop effective solutions we must undertake a thorough investigation of this issue.

“Government cannot be asleep at the switch amidst such significant threats. Going forward, government must be significantly more proactive in modernizing our laws and regulations so that we are not faced with such a crisis again.”

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Media contact
Jillian Oliver, Press Secretary
+1 778-650-0597 | jillian.oliver@leg.bc.ca

Over the last few months, I’ve been contacted by numerous constituents concerning the BC Government’s proposed “Speculation Tax”. Constituents who have contacted my office would have received an email outlining my views on this proposed measure. As the BC Green critic and spokesperson on the demand side of the affordability file, I felt it was instructive for me to make these views more readily available. Below I reproduce the contents of the email constituents would have received.

A group will be hosting a town hall on the speculation tax at the Dave Dunnet theatre at Oak Bay Secondary School from 19:00 to 21:00 on Thursday, June 28th. I look forward to hearing your views on the issue.

Text of Email

Thank you for writing to me about the government’s proposed speculation tax.

The speculation tax will be proposed in legislation that is to be brought forward in the fall.

In accordance with our Confidence and Supply Agreement, government consults with our Caucus on many matters. All input we provide government is aimed at producing evidence-based public policy that will deliver outcomes that are in the best interests of the province as a whole.

The BC Greens have indicated to government that we do not support the speculation tax because 1) it doesn’t address speculation; 2) there are too many unforeseen consequences; 3) it is administratively burdensome.

The speculation tax targets two distinct issues. The first is vacant properties. The second are satellite families — families who pay little or no taxes here in Canada.

The BC Greens recommended several alternate approaches to government on how to better deal with the housing crisis. First, we suggested that government introduce enabling legislation to allow local governments to implement a vacancy tax if they felt it was necessary for their communities. Victoria, for example, has asked for the powers to introduce such a tax. Enabling the ability of local governments to introduce a vacancy tax is relatively straightforward. The legislative language already exists in the Vancouver Charter.

Three benefits of this approach are that any monies raised would remain in the affected community, its implementation would be highly focused, and the issue of double taxation in the Vancouver area would be addressed. Should vacancy or rental shortage issues no longer be a problem, local governments could also respond rapidly without the need for provincial legislation.

Another recommendation of the BC Greens was to introduce a New Zealand-style ban on foreign purchases in the secondary housing market unless trade agreements prohibit this. New Zealand, for example, excluded Australia in its offshore buyer ban due to existing agreements.

In addition, we recommended the closure of the bare trust loophole and the introduction of a flipping tax – a tax levied on people who flip properties, buying and selling them in a short timeframe for significant profits.

The information that we provided government regarding the speculation tax was that it should be as targeted as possible in addressing speculative activity in the housing market. We also communicated that government should work to minimize unintended consequences on people and activity we don’t want to target, without fundamentally undermining the impact of the tax.

The BC Green caucus also articulated a number of problems with the proposed speculation tax. We pointed out that it made no sense to have a vacancy tax applied to strata units that had “no rental” clauses in their rules.

In areas that are disproportionately home to vacation property owners (e.g. Cultus Lake prior to its exemption), the local economies are dependent on seasonal visitors and part-time residents. Therefore, implementing this tax would have negative consequences on these economies that likely outweigh the benefits. This remains a problem with the proposed inclusion of Kelowna and West Kelowna in the Speculation Tax.

We noted that in some areas covered there is no substantive rental market (e.g. islands with no ferry service). And we continue to remain concerned that Canadians from different provinces will be treated differently. We remain committed to the notion that all Canadians should be treated equally.

We look forward to seeing the government’s legislation in the Fall. We remain committed to our shared goal of taking action to address the housing affordability crisis.

I hope this helps to clarify my position and the actions I am taking on this tax. There is so much uncertainty still out there on this speculation tax and it is not something the BC Greens would have proposed.

Best wishes,
Andrew

Today, the Ministry of Citizens’ Services announced that it is modernizing and streamlining the government procurement process in order to better support BC businesses.

I welcome this initiative, which we also called for in our election platform, but in my view all government supports for small businesses and entrepreneurs should be modernized to respond to the changing needs of business and to ensure that we are doing everything we can to support these innovative British Columbians.

Below is the media release we issued in response to the government’s announcement.

Media Release

Weaver welcomes new government procurement process, calls for comprehensive streamlining of support for innovators
For immediate release
June 25, 2018

VICTORIA, B.C. – Andrew Weaver, leader of the B.C. Green Party, welcomed government’s announcement that it is streamlining procurement to better support B.C. innovators. Weaver added that the government should streamline and modernize all supports for B.C. small businesses and innovators.

“This is a good first step towards supporting B.C. innovators and demonstrates why government should streamline and modernize all support for entrepreneurs,” said Weaver.

“Government needs to be a leader in ensuring that we are invested in the success of B.C. companies. One of the biggest challenges I hear from small businesses and start-ups is that government programs and support initiatives are disparate and cumbersome to navigate. Additionally, business models and the needs of entrepreneurs are evolving due to the changing nature of our economy. Government procurement is an important piece of the puzzle, but there are many other programs that help businesses grow. By ensuring that government programs are responsive to the changing needs of business and making them easier to navigate, we can ensure we are providing useful, efficient support for our homegrown innovators.

“Innovation-driven industries, be they in clean tech, high tech or value-added resources, are undoubtedly the future of B.C.’s economy. Not only are these industries leading the global economy, they provide well-paying jobs and are compatible our province’s strategic strengths and values. I am pleased that key elements of our economic plan to support these industries, the Innovation Commission and the Emerging Economy Task Force, have been adopted by the B.C. NDP government through our Confidence and Supply Agreement. I look forward to continuing to work closely with government to support the development of a thriving, innovative 21st century economy.”

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Media contact
Jillian Oliver, Press Secretary
+1 778-650-0597 | jillian.oliver@leg.bc.ca

The BC Government announced today that it plans to create a publicly accessible beneficial ownership registry in an attempt to ensure transparency as to who owns property in British Columbia.

It’s been more than four years now since I started calling on government to close the bare trust loophole which is being exploited to provide cover for anonymous real estate transactions as well as to avoid paying property transfer and, potentially, capital gains taxes.

A bare trust is a legal entity that allows for the separation of beneficial and legal ownership. The beneficial owner of a property is the person or persons who make all the decisions concerning such things as rent, repairs, management, sale etc.; they are also the person or persons who receive all the revenue from and arrange financing for the property. The trustee of the bare trust has no substantive decision-making capacity as they simply act upon the instructions of the beneficial owner. Typically the trustee is a corporation that has no other purpose but to act as a trustee for the bare trust and for which the beneficial owner owns all the shares.

Now here’s the loophole. Suppose you own a home or apartment building that you want to dispose of. If you simply transferred title, like most of us do when we sell a home, the purchaser would have to pay the property transfer tax.

But if instead the property is in a bare trust where the trustee is a company, then you will pay no tax. All you have to do is sell your shares in the company for 1$ (the company has no assets anyway), and sell the “beneficial ownership” rights of the property to a third party via a “bare trust agreement” which is not registered at the Land Title Office.  Since no change in title occurs, no tax is paid.

While I appreciate that government is now collecting data on beneficial owners and sharing that data with the Canadian Revenue Agency (thereby potentially giving the CRA the ability to crack down on capital gains evasion), the government is still not doing what Ontario did ages ago. That is, to apply the property tax to transfer of beneficial ownership rather that to transfer of title.

This is perhaps the single most effective measure the government could take to clamp down on speculation in BC’s real estate sector.

Below is the press release I issued following the government’s announcement.

Media Release

Andrew Weaver statement on beneficial ownership registry white paper
For immediate release
20 June 2018

VICTORIA, B.C. – Today Andrew Weaver responded to government’s release of proposed legislation to create a beneficial ownership registry.

“Government should match its data collection and transparency efforts with decisive action and immediately close the bare trust loophole,” said Weaver.

“I welcome the collection of more information on who truly owns property in B.C. For far too long, individuals and corporations with the means to navigate the holes in our legal system have been able to shield their identities from tax collection and law enforcement officials. However, it is critical that in addition to collecting more data, government acts decisively to actually crack down on people who use beneficial ownership structures in order to avoid paying taxes.

“Right now, speculators are able to use the bare trust loophole to avoid paying millions of dollars in taxes. This is a loophole so big you could drive a bus through it. Government can close it by simply applying the property transfer tax to the transfer of beneficial ownership. By doing so, government can truly crack down on speculation, tackle tax avoidance and free up huge sums of money that the province can spend on housing affordability.

“I will continue to push government on the urgent need to close the bare trust loophole.”

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Media contact
Jillian Oliver, Press Secretary
+1 778-650-0597 | jillian.oliver@leg.bc.ca

Today I was afforded the distinct honour of giving a keynote presentation at Clean Energy BC’s Global Electrification Summit. I took the opportunity to take the audience on a journey from the past to the future — from where we were when Gordon Campbell was BC’s Premier, to where we went when Christy Clark was BC’s Premier, to where we are in this minority government guided by our Confidence and Supply Agreement, to where we can go, when we focus on our potential in the Clean Energy sector.

Below I reproduce the text of my speech.

Text of Speech

Introduction

Thank you. It’s a distinct honour for me to be here and I am grateful for the opportunity to speak at Clean Energy BC’s Global Electrification Summit.

I entered politics via an unusual route. Prior to my election as the MLA for Oak Bay – Gordon Head (and subsequently becoming leader of the B.C. Green Party), I was Lansdowne Professor and Canada Research Chair in Climate Modelling and analysis at the University of Victoria.

With a PhD in applied mathematics I’d spent 25 years working in the field of atmosphere/ocean/climate science.

I decided to seek election with the BC Green Party in 2012 as I could no longer stand by and watch the dismantling of British Columbia’s climate policies and leadership in clean energy innovation.

Over these past 25 years Clean Energy B.C. has been the voice of British Columbia’s Clean Energy sector and I am sincerely grateful for your contributions to our province.

The BC Green Party and I share your goal to support the growth of British Columbia’s clean energy sector and we will continue to do what we can to improve the regulatory and economic environments for clean energy production through our work in the B.C. legislature.

Clean Energy B.C.’s vision statement is to have British Columbia, Western Canada and the Western US all having access to clean, reliable, cost effective energy produced by the private sector.

It’s to see British Columbia leading the world in modelling a sustainable way of life.

That too is my vision for British Columbia, and the subject on which I would like to speak to you today.
Over the next 20 minutes I’d like to take you on a journey from the past to the future.

From where we were when Gordon Campbell was BC’s Premier,

to where we went when Christy Clark was BC’s Premier,

to where we are in this minority government guided by our Confidence and Supply Agreement,

to where we can go, when we focus on our potential in the Clean Energy sector.

Where we were, with Campbell

Last month I rose in the legislature to speak to Bill 34, the Greenhouse Gas Reduction Targets Amendment Act. The Act made a number of amendments to the original Greenhouse Gas Reduction Targets Act, which first became law on November 29, 2007.
Speaking to that bill brought me back to a very important time in my life. 2007 was the year in which the IPCC — the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change — released its Fourth Assessment Report.

It was the fourth consecutive report for which I served as a Leader Author in Working Group I’s volume on future projections of climate change.

It was also the year the B.C. government, under the leadership of Premier Gordon Campbell, decided that acting on climate change was an opportunity that B.C. could not afford to miss out on.

Mr. Campbell recognized that the first piece of legislation needed prior to taking steps to mitigate greenhouse gases was to set a clear target for where we were heading. In doing so, he sent a signal to the market that B.C. was going to be a leader in the new economy.

He set the stage for the emergence of a clean tech sector, a renewable energy sector and created a climate that saw companies starting to invest in reducing their greenhouse gas emissions.

I had the honour of participating as a member of BC’s first Climate Action Team. We were tasked with coming up with interim targets for 2012 and 2016.

We recommended that government should seek to reduce emissions by 6 percent, relative to 2007, by 2012. And for 2016, we recommended an 18 percent reduction.

I sat in the legislative gallery as the Greenhouse Gas Reduction Targets Act was introduced in 2007 and listened to Minister Penner speak to its purpose. I felt proud to be a British Columbian that day and told my climate science colleagues around the world to look at the example our jurisdiction was setting for the world.

In 2008, Mr. Campbell’s government developed and entrenched in law the Climate Action Plan. The Plan was, at the time, the most progressive plan to address greenhouse gas emissions in North America, largely due to its revenue-neutral carbon tax.

Government was on track. In fact, we made the 2012 target, thanks, in part, to the policy measures put in place.

Nevertheless, at the time we knew, and government knew, through their wedge analyses, that proposed policies alone were not going to take us to the 33% reductions by 2020 — let alone an 80% reduction by 2050.

More needed to be done.

But we were well positioned to meet the challenge because BC had emerged as a leader internationally in both dealing with the challenge and recognizing the economic opportunity associated with greenhouse gas mitigation.

Where we went, with Clark

But all of our successes started to be overturned when British Columbia’s provincial leadership changed.

In every year since the 2011 change of leadership, emissions have gone up.

Why? Because of the signal government sent to the market that our emissions reductions targets no longer mattered — that economic prosperity would be found in industries from the last century, and that they would help take us back there.

The BC Liberals under Christy Clark stifled clean innovation and introduced policies that further entrenched “dig-it and ship-it” oil and gas development.

And when the market no longer supported these activities, they doubled done by creating more and more subsidies in a desperate attempt to squeeze water from a stone.

The first crack in our wall of climate policies started in July of 2012 when then Premier Christy Clark excluded LNG from the Clean Energy Act. From there, the dismantling of policies became far more aggressive.

I became so frustrated with the direction Ms. Clark’s government was taking B.C., that I ran for office and was elected in 2013.

I felt it was my job to ensure that there was a voice, and a party, that was going to stand up to the government on this issue and try to get government to once again commit to the climate leadership.

Unfortunately, the generational sellout continued, culminating in 2014 with the Greenhouse Gas Industrial Reporting and Control Act, where the Legislature repealed the Greenhouse Gas Reduction (Cap and Trade) Act from 2008.

All of this was done with the promise that LNG would make British Columbians rich and give the B.C. government a significant new revenue stream. This just hasn’t materialized.

Indeed, despite government doing everything in their power to position B.C. with a booming oil and gas economy, we have seen massively decreasing revenues to B.C. from increasing gas extraction.

What the data shows is quite shocking – while gas production has gone from 25 billion cubic metres in 2001 to over 50 billion cubic meters in 2016/17, royalty and land lease revenues to the B.C. government have gone in the opposite direction, from a record $2.4 billion in 2008/09 down to only $139 million in 2015.

Not only are we not getting paid for this public resource, we are literally paying companies to take it from us.

In 2009, B.C. collected $1.3 billion in natural gas royalties.
Last year, we collected a mere $152 million. Measured as a share of the value of oil and gas production in B.C., royalties collected by government has fallen from 44 percent in 2008 to just 4 percent last year.

In 2009, B.C. earned $39.90 in royalties for every 1000 cubic metres of natural gas. In 2017 it was $2.95.

This is a dismal return on the resources that are being extracted from our province.

We are literally giving away more gas for less money while barrelling past our climate commitments. That’s race for the bottom economics at its worst.

While we became sidetracked with developing an LNG industry and expanding our oil and gas production, other jurisdictions began to emerge and surpass B.C. as climate action trailblazers.

In 2016 leaders around the world signed the Paris accord, which committed signatories to reduce emissions and keep global warming to below 2 degrees relative to pre-industrial levels.

This agreement laid out, in the starkest terms, the choice facing the global community.

We’ve already warmed by 1.1 degrees with another 0.6 degrees in the cards if we do no more than maintain atmospheric greenhouse gas levels at present values.

Add to this, another 0.2 degrees or so from the permafrost carbon feedback and we have a commitment to about 1.9° warming already in store.

The Paris accord essentially translates to this: effective immediately, we must turn the corner and stop investing in new fossil fuel infrastructure that will continue to be around for decades to come.

That’s because of socioeconomic inertia. We don’t build an LNG facility in Kitimat, for example, today to tear it down tomorrow. We build it to last 40 to 50 years. We build it to last past our 2050 greenhouse gas reduction targets.

The scientific community is clear, the international community is clear, much of the business community is clear: we need to make the right choice of investments today because they will affect tomorrow.

Which brings us to where we are now, with our confidence and supply agreement in the present minority government.

Where we are now, with CASA

CASA – the confidence and supply agreement – underpins B.C.’s minority government. It is an agreement to work in good faith, with no surprises, with the B.C. NDP.

CASA has provided the B.C. Green caucus with an opportunity to champion key aspects of our economic platform, and the ability to work closely with government on priority issues like climate policy.

From our perspective, these two files are largely one in the same.

For example, we included two key pieces from our 21st century economy platform in the CASA agreement to help us seize economic opportunities in the emerging economy.

The first piece is the Emerging Economy Task Force.

We proposed the Emerging Economy Task Force to enable government to adapt and respond to changes on the horizon.

We need to modernize government so that it is considerably more responsive to technological innovation.

The Emerging Economy Task Force is looking to the future, identifying emerging trends & advising government on how to maintain our competitiveness & achieve prosperity amidst these changes.

The second item from our platform integrated into CASA is the Innovation Commission (now Innovate B.C.) as well as the appointment of an Innovation Commissioner.

The innovation commissioner serves as an advocate and ambassador for the B.C. technology sector in Ottawa and abroad, to enable B.C. companies to more easily tap into existing federal programs and build key strategic relationships internationally.

I’m confident that both of these initiatives will bolster and grow key sectors of our economy.

Since government was sworn in last July, I have had regular meetings with the Environment, Minister George Heyman, to discuss BC’s climate plan.
Over the past few months, our senior staff has been meeting weekly to further these goals.

I know the Minister cares deeply about this issue and I’m impressed by the expertise of the public service supporting his ministry.

It has been a pleasure to be working with them and I’m optimistic about what we can accomplish collectively.

The B.C. Green Caucus and government both agree that a meaningful climate plan will require careful planning, innovative ideas, and a new economic vision for how B.C. will prosper in a changing and challenging world.

We agree the principles of the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples need to be front and centre as we chart a course forward.

Rights, title, lands, territories, culture, traditional knowledge and identities must be protected by, and included in, B.C.’s clean growth strategy.
We want to create a strategy that will treat reducing greenhouse gas emissions as an economic priority and a key driver of our plan to create sustainable jobs and log-term prosperity.

We know responding to the challenge of climate change is both an intergenerational opportunity and responsibility.

I am working directly with the BC NDP to ensure a climate plan is put together that doesn’t simply show a plausible pathway to meeting our targets – but drives a return to the vision of a clean 21st century economy.

We have one of the best public services in the world and for a long time they have had the policies ready to get us there.

What has been missing is political leadership. This minority government must – and will – show that leadership.

I’m hopeful, but still wary of our starting point and the strength of the status quo.

In preparation for this speech, I reread parts of The Weather Makers by Tim Flannery – one of the books said to have inspired Mr. Campbell’s climate action ambitions.

In it Flannery writes; “Climate change is difficult for people to evaluate dispassionately because it entails deep political and industrial implications, and because it arises from the core processes of our civilization’s success.”

I think that speaks to the crossroads many governments face today.

Despite the new opportunities we’re presented with in B.C., some fractions of the B.C. government are continuing to entertain the dream of exporting LNG and are continuing the natural gas giveaway started by the previous administration.

Acknowledging that we need to transform our energy systems, with a plan for our environment, our economy and our communities – and that a climate action strategy is also an exciting economic strategy – is a big step. But it is not enough.

And that is where you come in: Where we can go, working in partnership with the Clean Energy sector.

Where we can go, with Clean Energy

If we are to meet our legislated targets – we will be doing so with clean energy — likely following the lead of people in this room.

In that regard, B.C. is setup to succeed. From our access to cheap, renewable energy, to our educated workforce, to our innovative business community, to the quality of life we can offer here, together with British Columbia’s natural beauty, we have an opportunity to develop our Province into one of the most prosperous jurisdictions in the world.

Our challenges are too big, and the consequences too profound, to ignore this opportunity.

We stand to gain by building on the expertise that our neighbours have already developed in these areas. And yet, there is still so much room to grow in this sector, to improve upon current technologies and policy innovations.

We need to learn from what has worked for our neighbours, and craft them into a “made in B.C. approach” that respects the unique characteristics of our economy, our environment and our energy needs.

The approval Site C was a terribly disappointing decision for me because I believe small-scale, distributed energy projects are the way of the future for B.C. and that we should fundamentally change the mandate of B.C. Hydro.

B.C. Hydro should no longer be the builder of new power capacity.

Rather, it should be the broker of power deals, transmitter of electricity, and leveller of power load through improving British Columbia power storage capacity.

Let industry risk their capital, not taxpayer capital, and let the market respond to demands for cheap power.

We need to optimize support for clean energy development, including grid storage for community or privately generated power and work with neighbouring jurisdictions to expedite the phase out of fossil fuel powered electricity generation.

The future of economic prosperity in B.C. lies in harnessing our innate potential for innovation and bringing new, more efficient technologies to bear in the resource sector.

B.C. will never compete in digging dirt out of the ground with jurisdictions that don’t internalize the same social and environmental externalities that we value.

We will excel through being smarter, more efficient, cleaner and by working together to solve our problems.

This means that we not only export the dirt, but we also export the knowledge, technology and value added products associated with resource extraction.

To get a fair value for our resources that deliver maximum benefits to our communities, we need to get smarter and more strategic when it comes to embracing innovation.

Government should be doing more to support these initiatives and create fertile ground for a sustainable, resilient, and diverse economy.

We should be using our boundless renewable energy resources to attract industry, including the manufacturing sector, that wants to brand itself as sustainable over its entire business cycle, just like Washington and Oregon have done.

We should be setting up seed funding mechanisms to allow the B.C.-based creative economy sector to leverage venture capital from other jurisdictions to our province.

By steadily increasing emissions pricing, we can send a signal to the market that incentivizes innovation and the transition to a low carbon economy.

The funding could be transferred to municipalities across the province so that they might have the resources to deal with their aging infrastructure and growing transportation barriers.

Yes, we should be investing in trade skills, as described, for example, under the B.C. jobs plan.

But we should also be investing further in education for 21st century industries like biotech, high tech and cleantech. It’s critical that we bring the typically urban-based tech and rural-based resource sectors together.

Similarly natural gas has an important role to play, but we should use it to use in our domestic market and explore options around using it to power local transport.

Global investment trends are being driven by the world’s shared Paris commitments, predicated on the fact that keeping global warming under 2 degrees Celsius is far more cost-effective than dealing with the effects of a temperature rise above that level.

This shift presents a significant opportunity for B.C.’s economy.

Our province is well poised to bolster its leadership in the cleantech sector – we have a strong competitive advantage in the building blocks required to foster a knowledge-based economy.

In Closing

I am truly excited about the prospects that lie ahead for this minority government. I am working every day to ensure that this government embraces the opportunity in front of it. British Columbia has so much to offer and we can and should be a leader in the new economy.

The years ahead will require all of us to come together to look for areas where we can be partners – to drive the innovation that will enable us to conquer what lies ahead. I don’t doubt many of solution we need will come from the people in this room.

Thank you all again for having me here today to speak with you. And for all your work to build a better future for our province.