The maximum criminal penalties on summary convictions for all offences under the act would be increased from six months to two years less a day of imprisonment. In addition, the two-step penalty structure for offences related to non-compliance with suspicious transaction reporting would be amended to eliminate the lesser penalty for a first-time offence.
Looking at the monetary penalties, this change was made to establish consistency with the structure of monetary penalties under the act. For a summary offence, and to ensure that the maximum available penalty is consistently half that of the monetary penalties for its indictable counterpart for the same offence, the current fines for a summary offence range from $50,000 to $500,000. The proposed changes would increase the monetary penalty to a maximum fine of $250,000, and to $1 million for more serious offences, such as violations of reporting requirements.
I would add that even though these penalties have increased, it would ultimately remain at the discretion of the judiciary to determine the appropriate penalty.