Thank you, Mr. Chair.
At the outset, I want to correct Mr. Davies on one thing. Nothing in my subamendment calls for the committee to issue a subpoena for Mr. Carney. He said that several times, but that's just not accurate, and I think for the record it needs to be clear.
There's another thing I want to say with respect to Mr. Davies. I'm somewhat surprised to hear what he's saying today, because just a couple of weeks ago in committee, he said, “I want to be clear on the record: I look forward to Mr. Carney's coming to this committee at the appropriate time in the appropriate study, which can happen in the next two months.” I don't know if his position has changed from two weeks ago. Maybe it will be different next week or whenever we finally get to vote on the subamendment. It is odd to hear him change his position depending on where the politics are most advantageous for his party.
Speaking directly to the subamendment, I want to start with the issue of bringing in the Minister of Finance. One of the reasons it's really important to have the Minister of Finance at committee is that the Minister of Finance wrote a letter to the committee chair on October 6 that had to do with the five-year review of the Proceeds of Crime (Money Laundering) and Terrorist Financing Act. The appearance of the finance minister would be directly relevant to discussing the issue of money laundering in Canada.
This is a request from the Minister of Finance in a letter to Chair Fonseca:
The last review of the [act] was completed in November 2018....
I am requesting that the Standing Committee on Finance conduct the review.
After conducting the review, the Committee would be required to submit a report to Parliament recommending any changes to the PCMLTFA or its administration. I suggest the review of the PCMLTFA be initiated this fall and completed by winter 2023-24.
Obviously, “this fall” was last fall. That has passed and the committee hasn't done anything. We've essentially ignored her request. No study has commenced. For Mr. Davies's clarification, the meeting we did have was on a motion, which I believe was brought forward by my colleague Mr. Chambers, to at least do some groundwork in advance and in anticipation of conducting the study.
The appearance of the finance minister is directly relevant to the issue of money laundering, and the issue of money laundering is very serious. We've had many banks fined across the country. We've had reports that money laundering in Canada has increased home prices by 7.5% because of the increased demand generated by people trying to launder money through home acquisitions. I think earlier last fall, before Mr. Davies joined the committee, we talked about Sam Cooper's article, where he identified the issue of HSBC accepting fraudulent income verification letters from foreign students in order to get loans and launder money through housing. It is a really serious problem. We have banks being fined in the United States and in Canada for not adhering to the rules set out by FINTRAC on how they're supposed to manage their money laundering.
What was supposed to happen today was that we were supposed to have a meeting about this. We followed all the rules. Someone said earlier that the Standing Order 106(4) letter wasn't done properly. It was done exactly properly. The people who signed it needed to sign it. It was worded properly, but here we are at this point.
It shouldn't come as a surprise to me that Liberal members of the committee don't want to talk about money laundering. Their record is abysmal. After nine years in office, the problem has gotten so much worse. Canada's enforcement of money laundering is being noticed internationally. We have other countries, the United States in particular, whose fines have been much more aggressive than fines here in Canada. The problem has only gotten worse and worse.
This meeting was supposed to be about that. We issued a Standing Order 106(4) request, yet here we are. We have the NDP again carrying water for the Liberals. For the life of me, I don't understand why. I don't understand why they would hand this to the Liberals on a silver platter and put up with the political price they're going to pay for trying to stall this important meeting about money laundering in Canada—money laundering that creates chaos and crime in our streets. They are propping up a Prime Minister who is simply not worth the cost of that chaos and crime. The Conservatives are here today trying to do something about it, and Liberal members are blocking it.
We have other examples. If the Minister of Finance comes to the committee, I'd like to talk to her about this letter and ask her if she's disappointed that Liberal members of the committee won't support Mr. Chambers's motion, which is actually about—