Thank you, Mr. Chair.
I want to thank the witnesses for being here.
I still remember the 2017 Transparency International study that came out. It said that Canada had tied with South Korea for the worst transparency regime, and the term “snow-washing” was used very frequently here in Canada and around the world. It sounds as though progress has been made since then.
I think about the impact of this, especially with Mr. Brazeau having mentioned the statistic of 5%. In my home community of Victoria, the median cost of a single-family home is about $1.1 million. The benchmark value is about $1.2 million. That means for first-time homebuyers, there is $50,000 to $60,000 in increased costs, which is a huge amount. Folks are being impacted, and we know that's driving up rent prices as well.
The NDP has done a lot of work on pushing for a beneficial ownership registry, one that's public and searchable, and it sounds as though that work is under way.
I'm curious as to whether we are following international standards for things like ID verification, a tip line for whistle-blowers and a registrar with comprehensive powers so that we know people can be issued significant fines.