Earlier, we talked about statistics on global transactions. Can you tell me how these statistics break down geographically?
In my riding, and elsewhere in the Province of Quebec, and probably in the rest of Canada, Canadians are concerned over international transactions that take place in the Barbados and other tax havens. Many people believe that because these countries have less transparent fiscal systems, there is more money laundering, economic crimes, and even terrorist financing activities going on. It is a comment we hear often.
Based on your figures, is it possible to confirm or disprove these hypotheses? You conduct inquiries on tax havens such as Barbados, a country with which Canada has signed special agreements and where Canadians invest massively. We are talking about a 500 per cent increase over the last 10 years. Billions of dollars have been invested in these tax havens. What are the problems? How can we find out what percentage of these investments is used for money laundering, or financing terrorist activities, for example?