LOCAL OPINION

Here we are at the start of a new year. As always, it is filled with Hope. After a lively 2025, it is only right that we can have a good plate full of Hope served up! Recall that 2025 began last

January with the swearing in of US President Donald Trump. After that, it was a green light

for all manner of bad news and lies from his aged lips.

His ‘51st State’ nonsense was a form of election interference, and it certainly put the wind in the sails of the moribund Liberal Party under its latest saviour Mark Carney (recall earlier saviours Michael Ignatieff, Stephane Dion, and Justin Trudeau called in to save the Liberal ship.) Trump’s threats of annexing Canada - and Greenland - and harsh trade tariffs he announced on us - his nation’s supposedly best neighbours and friends. That was all it took to upset a huge lead the Conservatives under Pierre Poilievre enjoyed right up to the start of the April election. And then it was over. The NDP support evaporated and left-wing voters cast ballots for the Liberals, along

with left, centre and right Liberals - as well as some Red Tories. Oh, yes, the Green vote also

went to the Liberals, as did some of the Bloc vote in Quebec.

Mark Carney won (a large minority), Poilievre lost - even his own riding! - and the year began

with the Official Opposition like a dog with its tail between its legs. Poilievre returned after a by-election win. But that meant the Liberals had no real opposition until the fall session of Parliament. That plodded along amidst many foreign trips for the new PM, causing some to ask why he showed little concern for domestic affairs. Little was accomplished to diversify trade. The renewed Opposition forced Carney to deliver a federal budget - the Liberals were going to skip it, as happened the year before. When it came, that budget called for huge deficit spending, much to fund the sudden interest in all things Conservative, including major defence spending hikes.

Carney ended the year having stolen most of Poilievre’s policy thunder. In December two of his

MPs crossed the floor to the Liberals and a third announced his resignation. Keep in mind they

were all just elected in April.

So looking ahead to 2026, we can expect Poilievre to survive a leadership vote this month. That may result in additional floor crossings to the Liberals. Just one more gives Carney his majority and a lock on governing for four more years. The NDP picks a new leader at the end of March. A standard pick means electoral oblivion for the leftists. A bold choice means new possibilities to regain ground lost to Carney.

In Quebec a provincial election will boost the federal Bloc Quebecois, clawing back support

from the Liberals. In Alberta a referendum campaign to separate will be held. A positive

vote would tear apart the federal Conservatives. Trump believes he controls Carney, and he will

enjoy seeing Carney solidify his grip on power in 2026.

Here’s a New Year’s wish for 2026: Snuff out fentanyl and deadly illicit drugs, a scourge destroying our society – and snuff out the scum of the earth profiteering from this murderous illegal trade. Since 2016, 53,308 Canadians died from fentanyl and opioid-related overdoses. And south of the border, where fentanyl-related deaths are the highest in the world, 800,645 Americans died between 2015 and 2024. The cost of this epidemic is also killing our economy. The U.S. estimates

in 2023 alone, this scourge cost US$2.7-trillion, and in Canada the cost is estimated at $7.1-billion,

though critics will argue it is much higher. Meanwhile, the drug lords are raking in billions, if not trillions of dollars, and hiding much of their ill-gotten dirty money, here in Canada – known as the money-laundering capital of the world.

Sadly, over the years, too many in power turned a blind eye, blaming victims for  becoming addicted. No wonder. Even government agencies supposed to protect the people got hoodwinked. Think Purdue Pharma, owned by rich U.S. family, the Sacklers. In 1995, the U.S. FDA (Federal Drug Administration) approved OxyContin, an opioid pain medication, and according to health reports,

in two decades this drug killed 450,000 people. Finally, the Sackler family and Purdue Pharma

were brought to justice and settled a lawsuit for $7.4-billion. But really? How can you put a price

tag on all the pain and suffering caused by OxyContin? Here in Canada, the misery is seen everywhere, not just in the east side of Vancouver, B.C., known as a haven for drug users

- but in every nook and cranny across the country. Just visit my hometown of Orillia, or Barrie,

Midland, Sudbury, or anywhere Ontario – where this crisis caused the mayors of 29 of Ontario’s

largest cities to demand the province declare “a state of emergency.”

Leading the Ontario Big City Mayors is Burlington Mayor Marianne Meed Ward, who warns cities

cannot afford to keep funding this crisis, and they have already “dug deep” into their budgets,

covering 50% of the $4.1-billion spent on homelessness and housing programs in 2024 alone. But

she adds, “it is simply unacceptable for us as leaders in our community who care for everyone

to let those people suffer on the streets.”

Bottom line is this crisis has exasperated a housing affordability crisis gripping Canada – and

money laundering in real estate is only making our housing affordability crisis worse. Federal intelligence authorities now estimate up to $113-billion a year is being laundered in Canada, with a big amount flowing through real estate transactions. “What is clear,” states the Canadian

Financial Crime Academy (CFCA), “is that real estate, being a high-value, stable asset class, has

become one of the preferred avenues for integrating illicit wealth into the legitimate economy.”

Globally, the United Nations Office on Drugs & Crime, estimates money laundering – described as

the backbone of organized crime – is worth $1.87-trillion, with the U.S., China, Russia, and Mexico

the leaders. To launder this dirty money, the crooks use shell companies, trade-based money laundering, cash smuggling, and real estate. The CFCA says both commercial and residential properties are using to scrub dirty money – and they prefer to use luxury properties in prestigious neighbourhoods to avoid scrutiny. Psssst: Does this help explain the proliferation of teardowns and erection of mega mansions in our neck of the woods?

They also use the criminal talents of scuzzy mortgage lenders and not so honest lawyers. Despite a clampdown on this national crisis, including FinTRAC (the Financial Transactions and Reports Analysis Centre of Canada) requiring real estate agents and brokers to report any cash transaction over $10,000 – the money laundering feast continues. So, let me applaud anti-money-laundering experts who are now asking Ontario to set up a land transparency registry, which will force the disclosure of the real owners of properties, including those held by corporations, partners, and trustees. Sasha Caldera, campaign director for the End Snow-Washing Coalition, stresses this registry, which would be free of charge and accessible to the public, is really needed in Ontario, not only to disrupt money laundering, but to help in our home price crisis. The Ontario Real Estate Association is also urging Ontario to create this new registry. Currently, only B.C. has such a registry. Bottom line is while these scum of the earth get richer, and richer from their murderous crimes, we all pay, big time. And too many families end up grieving the loss of a loved one. When it comes to fighting fentanyl, go get ‘em!

Normally I like to use this editorial space to discuss matters of our city, our province, our country - as well as international affairs. But today - in the run up to Christmas and New Year’s - I want to offer some of my thoughts on that great Canadian pastime of hockey.

Now, I have been a hockey lover since I began watching the Toronto Maple Leafs win their most

recent Stanley Cup. That was in 1967, and I was all of 5 years old. Since then, nothing. Despite

watching year after year, game after game, the National Hockey League (NHL) has expanded

hugely. With 32 teams now, run by a Manhattan lawyer named Gary Bettman, the NHL embodies

Bettman’s vision of a business empire structured around US cities, with a half-dozen Canadian

ones allowed into the club.

Recent additions to the league include teams in Seattle, Salt Lake, Las Vegas, Columbus, and

Minnesota. Filled with the best Canuck players money can buy. I thought this was our game?

Where are the teams in Hamilton, Victoria, Halifax or Quebec City? Barred from entry, to be

sure. Bettman controls the NHL empire in the interests of himself and Yankee millionaire owners.

All those teams mean a need for NHL players, and the league has become swamped with hockey

players from the US, Europe, and Russia. Why the Russians are allowed to play the past 4 years given economic sanctions on Russia is anybody’s guess.

Why the Leafs are stacked with Americans and Swedes is another head-scratcher. It’s not as though the team is doing well. In fact, it is in last place among 8 teams in their division.

Here are some ideas on how to make some changes to the Leafs performance on the ice: Firstly,

utilise a new way of player compensation. The 22 players on the team each year all have individual

contracts now. To see the top Leafs making nearly $100,000 per game and doing very little by way

of production to earn that pay is frustrating. Long-term, big buck contracts make it nearly impossible to fix what is wrong with the team - and other teams.

A Better Way: Pay every team player the same amount. $3.6-million annually. And give them bonus

money like $5,000 per goal, $2,500 per assist, $500 per shot on goal. Charge them $4,000 for

each penalty a player takes. Time in the box costs the team, often one goal, making them fall farther behind in the game. Award the goalie bonus pay for a shutout game, or a game in which he let in only one goal or two. Next, the head coach and seven assistant coaches should all be paid the same: $1-million, and the head coach would get a bonus based on what the team players

earn in bonus play each night. How about switching from 4 offensive lines and 3 defensive

lines...to 3 offensive lines and 4 defensive lines? If nobody scores on you, you can’t lose.

Barring such hopeful changes, let’s see a new Canada-only pro hockey league created for those

cities without an NHL team: Places like Hamilton, Laval, Quebec City, Halifax, Regina, and so

on. A 30-team Dominion Hockey League (DHL) with only Canadian players. Keep our talent here

for us to enjoy! 

Merry Christmas!

Get ready for more fleecing of your pockets. At a time when more Canadians are struggling to

make ends meet, and more are defaulting on their loan payments – Ontario’s Doug Ford  government sneaks in legislation in its gigantic omnibus Bill 60 which experts warn will lead to the

privatization of our water, and yes, higher bills.

Hidden in Bill 60 – known as the Fighting Delays, Building Faster Act, 2025 – is a new Water and

Waste Public Corporations Act, which critics argue will allow the restructuring of Ontario’s water delivery away from municipalities and into the hands of private, for-profit entities.

Ford’s Conservatives are quick to deny, deny, deny stating the province is not privatizing water. They should heed warnings of the disastrous move by then Conservative Premier Mike Harris in 1996 to privatize water testing, which led to the Walkerton E. coli outbreak where seven people died and 2,300 became very sick.

Bottomline is we’ve been hood winked too many times: Think 407 Electronic Toll Road (ETR), also known as “Extreme Toll Rip-Off.” After Premier Mike Harris sold the taxpayer-funded 407 for

$3.1-billion to a private consortium in 1999, he promised toll rate increases would be held to rate of inflation. But this journalist broke the story that a prospectus being floated to investors abroad promised “limitless” toll increases. And just look at what we now pay. The highest road tolls in the world.

Then there’s electricity, and the shocking sticker price. It was Bob Rae’s NDP who first proposed the

busting up of the debt-ridden Ontario Hydro, but it was Mike Harris Conservatives who set  the wheels in motion for privatization in 1998. Eventually, Ontario Hydro was split into three pieces – Ontario Power Generation (OPG), Hydro One and the Independent Electricity Market Operator, a crown corporation which manages the wholesale electricity market. But it was Liberal Premier

Kathleen Wynne who made the bold move for privatization by planning to sell off 60% of Hydro One to private investors with an Initial Public Offering. Today, the Ontario government

remains the largest shareholder, owning slightly less than half of Hydro One.

But over the years, Ontario’s electricity file has grown so complicated it makes the average ratepayer’s head spin. Meanwhile, we’re being electrocuted by rising electricity bills, that include the cost of bad decisions, like the gas plants scandals. And now, after paying a Debt Retirement

Tax on our bills, to pay down Ontario Hydro’s $19.1-billion in stranded debt (a tax that was rescinded in 2018) – we’re now being hit with a 29% hike in electricity rates, effective Nov. 1. This rate hike will push up the average supply cost for residential customers from 9.94 cents to 12.79 cents per kilowatt-hour.

Blamed for this new fleecing is higher spending for nuclear power (Ontario government is spending $26.8-billion to refurbish OPG’s Pickering Nuclear Generating Station), plus the cost of green programs, and a $648-million deficit for the Independent Electricity System Operator.

Right now, Ontario gets half of its power from nuclear, which experts argue is costly and complex. The Ford government wants to increase nuclear to 70% by 2050 and will explore private funding models to get there.

But voters are fed up. So, to ease the pain of this latest price increase, the province will boost the Ontario Electricity Rebate from 13.1% to 23.5%. These rebates are to lead us to believe hydro is affordable, even though we pay some of the highest electricity bills in North America. In 2023 alone, Ontario spent $5.8-billion to lower our bills. But, in the end, it’s the taxpayers who pay. Remember: One taxpayer, one pocket. So, stop hood winking us about the efficiencies of privatization, while the rich get richer, the poor get poorer and growing oligopolies take our

money and run. Time for common sense, if there is such a thing.

Well, dear readers, we are one year away from the next municipal elections. And while that may  not immediately ring any alarm bells for you, think about those services closest to your daily lives.

They aren’t sexy and they have little Wow! Factor. I’m referring to streets, traffic lights, sidewalks,

parks, arenas, rec centres, garbage, schools plus things like the seniors centre, art gallery, and libraries.

And let’s not forget planning matters and development. We are all affected - daily - by many of

these municipal issues.

Sure, Doug Ford’s antics get plenty of air time for him and distract us from local matters. Mark Carney’s efforts to fend off US advances and weave a new trade quilt with other countries also earns lots of media coverage. Again, at the expense of local issues. 

Residents in most municipalities - including Burlington, and Halton - often-times tune out local

things, until the eleventh hour, when suddenly they just learned of a new development, change or

higher taxes...what have you. 

But now - 12 months from municipal election day - we all need to start tuning in to city council,

regional council, and our local school boards. What are they up to now? Is it big, or small? Is it a

smokescreen for something others prefer to keep hidden until it is too late for protests and change?

Councils are like an NHL team - they have some leaders, they have some followers, they have

veterans and novices. Councils continue to exists over the years and decades, to run the municipal

corporation. Which is why we need some fresh blood, some new talent, to prevent abuse. Without a regular turnover council can go down the wrong path - and keep going.

If that wrong path translates into higher than necessary tax increases, it should raise some red

flags for voters. As a journalist of many years I have covered hundreds of meetings of councils and public meetings on big things. Usually the latter are filled with emotion, tears, and frustration from voters who learned too late about that big new subdivision or new condo tower. My advice to them

is: Please start tuning in, so you know sooner. As in the Wild West, at times bad things need to

be headed off at the ‘Pass’. Burlington has only 6 wards - it would be ideal if councillors representing (note that word choice) those wards can change on a regular basis. Probably 3 of the

6 should turnover every 4 years, which would allow for 3 veteran and 3 freshman councillors.

As for the mayor, again, turnover is important. The role of mayor - until Doug Ford grafted Yankee

ways onto our Canuck system with his awful Strong Mayor Powers - has always been to chair,

to lead, to suggest, to advise, to at times cajole council members to move collectively in a direction

that was necessary for the municipal corporation but also a direction wanted by the majority

of voters. Small turnouts at public feedback events and 27% voter turnout at election time, do not

give the mayor and councillors a mandate to pick their own path and charge stubbornly in that direction. 

Our system is good: Representative Democracy, is what most expect should happen.

It’s called the Great Divide.

The ultra rich - 10% of the world’s population, who earn more than 50% of global income and control 76%. And the poorest 50% - who earn 8% of global income and own only 2%. On top of the heap is the 1% who own 47.5% of global income and led by the world’s richest person, Elon Musk, who’s worth $462-billion and soon to become the planet’s first trillionaire. So, it’s disgusting he’s starring in a new blockbuster – the Musk Chainsaw Massacre – wielding his axe to inflict pain and suffering upon the people who dare work for government or heaven forbid, receive any aid. His co-star is the Orange Monster, Donald Trump, who’s wealth is estimated to be worth close to $10-billion as he dabbles in crypto investments, and who’s the U.S. President at the helm of the longest running government shutdown in American history. The misery grows, with layoffs mounting, approved spending axed, food stamps gone, benefits cut and even aid to struggling farmers frozen.

Yes, I’m a tax crusader, who believes you can’t spend more than you bring in, and ballooning deficits/debt cannot be sustained, especially the whopping $38-trillion owed by the U.S. But inflicting more pain on the struggling people, while the gap between the rich and the poor grows - will backfire sooner or later. And if China and Russia have their way, with their precious BRICs - America and our Western World, once the world’s economic superpower, will fall. So, watch for it: A new blockbuster – Game of Fools – as a fight to own the world’s wealth escalates into a possible all-out nuclear holocaust. On one side is BRICs, a new coalition of like-minded countries fed up with the Western World’s dominance and arrogance, and including Brazil, Russia, China, South Africa, Egypt, Indonesia, Ethiopia, Iran and the United Arab Emirates. On the other side is North America, Western Europe and Japan. BRICs wants its new monetary fund, the New Development Bank, to take over the Bretton Woods system of 1944, which ushered in the International Monetary Fund, making the U.S. Greenback the world currency for global trade. Insiders now claim we’re soon to get another new blockbuster – a government propaganda movie: The Invasion of the Aliens – to distract the humble people of the world from what’s really happening. Meanwhile closer to home – it’s Elbows Up, as the narcissist bully Trump takes on the world with his tariff madness, which threatens Canada’s economy and our status as a sovereign nation.

Canada’s Prime Minister Mark Carney is playing Mr. Nice Guy as he tries to appease the Monster and work out a fair trade deal, which even Trump hinted Canada would like, after he slapped us with tariff upon tariff. But now Trump refuses to talk to Carney after the king of Ontario, Doug Ford, bravely aired his $75-million ad campaign during the World Series, featuring pro free trade comments by Trump’s idol, former U.S. President and Republican Ronald Reagan. Bully Trump went ballistic.

So, wait for it: The next “Big Fleecing” is coming to a theatre near you as Carney unveils his first budget on Nov. 4, and warns all Canadians will have to pay more as he bails out our struggling businesses and steers us away from dependence on the U.S.

Well, I’m sorry – but taxpayers are all tapped out, after years of average households forking out almost half their hard-earned money to total taxes, while we hear horror story, after horror story, of government waste and mismanagement. More? Canadians pay 70% more in income taxes than our American cousins. But just as in the U.S., the gap between the rich and the poor is growing, with income disparity at a record high in second quarter of 2025 and 20% of Canadian households owning two-thirds of the nation’s net worth. Meanwhile, food bank usage has doubled since 2019, as families struggle to put food on the table. Go after the ultra rich, who can afford it.

Ontario politics at the best of times is a mix of raucous and boring.

We have Premier Ford to thank for spicing up the political scene throughout his term.

We need only to think back to the sudden closure and relocation of the Ontario Science Centre.  Or what about the Highway 401 tunnel? Ontario Place rebuild, anyone? Highway 413?

And then of course there were Ford’s Captain Canada efforts after US President Donald Trump was sworn back into office in a hail of anti-Canada  and trade war vitriol.

Summer’s a quiet time though, and politicians need to stay front and centre in the public eye.  Enter the takeover by the province of five school boards this year.

Were these boards misbehaving? Yes.  Were some of the school board trustees getting carried away without nary a thought of the taxpayer?  Absolutely. Was a takeover the best solution? No.

As we now enter the 12-month run up to next year’s municipal elections - which for now includes school board elections - Mr. Ford’s administration is running up another trial balloon.  Specifically, a threat that his government will abolish Ontario’s English-speaking, public school boards.  He will not touch the Catholic or French boards.

Can Ontario’s 4,848 public elementary and secondary schools be administered by  the Ministry of Education out of Toronto?  I have my doubts.  It would be one thing if Ford held a referendum on the idea next fall during the election.  But that is unlikely. Ford has a track record of charging ahead - and often reversing course when public opposition arises.

I watched closely years back when Ontario shifted from many largely county-based school boards to the mega boards that we see today.  Note that Burlington still enjoys a county-based board.

The megaboards rolled several counties and cities into large and ungainly school boards to administer and operate schools in those regions. The result was few efficiencies and just more administrative staff with loftier titles and fatter pay cheques.

This is supposed to be about educating our young to be productive members of society.

A much better solution than the one proposed by Ford is this: All publicly-funded schools would be owned and operated by the local municipality in which they reside. Those municipalities already collect education taxes.  Divide it up by the number of students and allocate it to their schools. Give the  city the power to hire principals to: run the schools, hire staff, run the school budget. Retain the School Parent Council at each school. Both Public and Catholic schools would come under a city education department. The city already operates brick and mortar operations for arenas, rec centres, community centres, libraries, works garages, etc. No new skills needed there.

The province would set curriculum, licence teachers, run EQAO standardized testing, and inspect all schools without warning.

Municipalities could then co-ordinate growth and transit plans with school locations and future school needs.  And municipalities would be responsible to voters for the results at election time!

Once upon a time in this fair land of Canada, a finance minister listened to the people – hardworking taxpayers, who were struggling to balance their household budgets, and who were worried sick about the disastrous state of Ottawa’s finances. That finance minister was Paul Martin, a Liberal who went on to become Prime Minister, and who at first dismissed our warnings that Canada was on a path to hit the Debt Wall. The year was 1994. The federal net debt hit a staggering $546 billion – or 73.2% of GDP (gross domestic product, a measure of economic growth).

With total taxes eating up an estimated 45% of the average household income and households still recovering from a nasty recession from March 1990 to April 1992, consumers were also drowning debt as households owed $470 billion. At our Survival Summit, organized by this financial journalist and the Canadian Taxpayers Federation, and included an expert panel representing all corners of our economy, we finally convinced Paul Martin of this dire situation. Enter his first budget in 1995: Spending cuts of $25.3-billion over three years. The elimination of Ottawa’s deficits, which led to five consecutive budget surpluses from 1997-98 to 2001-02 - the 2000-01 surplus being the largest in Canadian history. Paying down of debt with the surpluses, which put the debt-to-GDP ratio on a downward spiral.

All of this brought our economy roaring back to life, hitting 5.14% growth in 2000 and averaging 4% from 1997 to 2001 – outpacing the U.S. growth of 3.5%.

And taxpayers finally got a break with the largest tax cut in Canadian history, valued at $100-billion over five years with reduced income tax rates for all taxpayers, including an increase in the Canada Child Tax Benefit. Low-income earners also benefitted with an increase in basic deductions for those earning less than $20,000 a year. The corporate tax rate was cut from 28% to 21%. Of course, critics voiced harsh opposition, but on the global stage Canada was a shining star.

Now enter Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, another Liberal, elected to power in 2015, and who with his “sunny ways” mantra promised balanced budgets again by 2019. But here’s what we got. During his 10-year reign, the federal net debt doubled in size from $693.8-billion to a staggering $1.4-trillion. The interest we pay to service this debt also doubled from $25.6-billion to $53.7-billion. And Ottawa’s debt-to-GDP ratio is expected to balloon to 106% by the end of this year which - if it’s any consolation - is still lower than the heavily-indebted U.S. at 124%.  Now enter Mark Carney, another Liberal who took over the reins from Trudeau this year. His interim parliamentary budget officer Jason Jacques is now sounding the alarm bells that Ottawa’s deteriorating fiscal mess is not sustainable and about to explode. No kidding.  With a downgrading of economic growth, darkened by the tariff-obsessed madman south of the border, Jacques warns Canada’s deficit is expected to hit $68.5-billion in 2025-26, up from $51.7-billion in 2024-25, as Carney tries to spend our way out these tough times. And that includes tens of billions of dollars more on defence, thanks to the world’s hated bully, U.S. President Donald Trump. 

So, get ready for it – higher taxes are on the way, including a capital gains tax on our principal residences – while we’re going broke with total household debt hitting $3.1-trillion in the second quarter of 2025, and the debt-to-income ratio now at an alarming 174.9%.

Where are you, Paul Martin? We need you.

It has been widely reported that PM Mark Carney is in a rush to crank up Canada’s defence spending to satisfy US President Trump. The purpose is to spend more on defence in order to soften the trade impacts between our country and the Americans.

Carney has promised to spend $9-billion more this year (a year which is already half over!) and by 2032 he will be spending $150-billion annually on defence, three times our current levels.

We can do it, although how will we pay for it? That needs to be determined. But certainly in the short term it will be financed through borrowed money, which is precisely why we must spend wisely.

The biggest spend so far has been $2-billion in pay raises for our sailors, soldiers, and aircrew.

Great place to start. It would have been better, however, to have increased Non-Commissioned Officer pay by the same 20% that the entry level privates will get - because the sergeants, petty officers and warrant officers are needed to train and manage the new recruits. So, I say, give the NCOs the 20% raise now, too.

Next, let’s buy more equipment of the type that has already gone through the selection

and approval process. Finish the purchases currently underway but buy more of the same - increase the orders. This means buying one additional Joint Support Ship for the navy, additional (Saab Gripen) fighter jets, more trucks and guns, and anti-aircraft systems, plus more anti-tank systems.

Then we need to expand existing military bases and build a few new ones. Existing bases

need more base housing for the troops and their families.

Housing has been an ongoing thorn in the side of the defence department for years. New bases are needed for both an expanded training system as well as new operational bases, such as in the North/ Arctic.

Existing equipment needs to be repaired and put back in service, which will cost money. So, too, will the replacing of war stocks of ammunition and spare parts and equipment donated to Ukraine.

These four spending areas - pay, buying equipment, creating more bases, and repairing

existing gear - will account for most of the $9-billion this year. 

The remainder must go into a heightened tempo of operations - and readiness training.

Beyond this year, a bold new blueprint for the type of military that the Dominion of Canada

requires for the decades to come needs to be articulated, costed, and new acquisition projects set up and moved forward as quickly as possible - while remaining prudent.

When in doubt, keep it simpler, not high-tech. Diversifying our defence purchases away from the US makes sense to most Canadians. And a serious push on domestic production will help jobs in Canada and boost our defence exports. It will also be wise to have that industrial capability in

case we find ourselves at war.

This summer, a close relative – who for years worked in the U.S. banking sector – came to visit from Ohio, a brave move indeed given all the scare mongering at the border. As we drove through the

Lake Ontario neighbourhoods of Burlington and Oakville, she couldn’t help but comment: “Where is all the money coming from, with all these mansions?”

Yes, this area has been dubbed Billionaire Row, with rich executives enjoying windfalls from record-breaking pay, including stock options and bonuses, as the gap between the rich and the poor grows. But let’s be real. Real estate investors have been losing their shirts, as a long over-due correction takes shape in the longest running housing bull market since the crash of 1990-1996. Housing affordability is out of reach for so many with average prices in the GTA hitting well over

$1-million, and the homeless, many strung out on fentanyl, sleep in the streets as a lack of housing grips some of the most prosperous areas of Canada.

Yet, we watch as homes – some not even 40 years old - get bought up, torn down and replaced by mega mansions fit for ultra-rich celebrities. For years, this award-winning journalist, who’s won accolades from the real estate sector for fighting to keep the dream of home ownership alive, has warned dirty money from ill-gotten gains, like drug trafficking, human trafficking, illegal gambling and terrorist activities, was being laundered in Canada’s real estate markets, in particular in rich

Ontario and B.C. And this activity has helped inflate out-of-sight real estate prices. But, as with other journalists who tried to blow the whistle, many dismissed me as a headline-seeking reporter

who did not understand the dynamics of the market. Well guess what? Federal intelligence authorities now estimate up to $113-billion a year is being laundered in Canada, considered

a haven for crooks, with a significant amount flowing through real estate transactions. The Canadian Financial Crime Academy (CFCA) reports:

“What is clear is that real estate – being a high-value, stable asset class – has become one of the preferred avenues for integrating illicit wealth into the legitimate economy.” Globally, the United

Nations Office on Drugs & Crime, estimates money laundering – described as the backbone of organized crime - is worth US$1.87-trillion, with the U.S, China, Russia, and Mexico the leaders.

So, how do they launder the dirty cash? Shell companies, trade-based money laundering, real estate purchases and cash smuggling. Also on the rise is digital money laundering, using cryptocurrencies. Beware Donald Trump.

As for real estate, the crooks use both the commercial and residential markets. The CFCA points out for commercial, they purchase hotels, office buildings, even farmland and industrial sites, where they can park large sums of dirty money, and generate a legitimate revenue stream through

rents or business operations. In some cases, they also participate in property development projects, to take advantage of the huge capital flows, where tens of millions of dollars can change hands in a single project. For residential, the criminals employ a number of ways to launder their dirty money, like setting up intermediaries or shell companies to buy luxury properties in prestigious neighbourhoods to avoid scrutiny from regulators. They also use fraudulent mortgages and private lenders. For example, a criminal might use a fake identity or straw buyer to take out a mortgage, then only make legitimate monthly payments. The bulk of the mortgage is then paid off quickly

using illicit funds to turn dirty cash into clean money and securing equity in the property to be sold later. In Ontario, with our high prices, this allows crooks to launder large sums in a single

property by paying down the mortgage and using dirty cash to increase the value with renovations. The sad reality is even with a clampdown in 2019, with regulators calling money laundering a

“national crisis” and real estate agents and brokers required to report any cash transaction over $10,000 to Fin-TRAC (the Financial Transactions & Reports Analysis Centre) – the crooks

are still feasting. In one example, police seized or froze $35-million worth of assets, including 27 luxurious residential properties in Ontario, but in the end, the accused walked and the case

was dropped.

Bottom line: It will take all agencies – FinTRAC, the RCMP, the Canada Revenue Agency, provincial police, banking, real estate regulators, and more to fight back. NOW! Or forever, forget the dream of home ownership.