Mr. Speaker, the superintendent of financial institutions has asked Canadian banks to co-operate in the FBI's efforts to trace and freeze funds belonging to terrorist groups.
We have often asked the Minister of Finance to report on this and tell us whether such co-operation should extend to foreign branches of Canadian banks. This question is basic, since the funds often comprise dirty money, which is laundered in perfectly honest institutions, but in countries considered tax havens, which are very permissive and which, according to the OECD, do not look too closely at its source.
The major Canadian banks have a lot of branches in the Caribbean, a total of 50 for fewer than 2 million people, in a region that is the very best place for tax havens.
The Minister of Finance must answer these questions and unequivocally fight the practices of the tax havens, an excellent breeding ground for terrorists' financial power.