Federal finance minister Jim Flaherty today introduced a bill to strengthen the Proceeds of Crime (Money Laundering) and Terrorist Financing Act to ensure Canada continues to be a global leader in combating organized crime and terrorist financing.

“One of the best ways of putting these criminals out of business is to starve them of the funds they need to finance their activities. Our proposed amendments will improve our ability to act decisively,” said Flaherty.

The proposed amendments in the bill will make Canada’s anti-money laundering and anti-terrorist financing regime consistent with new Financial Action Task Force (FATF) standards. They also follow recommendations made in the 2004 Auditor General’s Report and in a 2004 Treasury Board evaluation of the regime.

The proposed amendments include:

  • Enhancing information sharing between the Financial Transactions and Reports Analysis Centre of Canada (FINTRAC), law enforcement and other domestic and international agencies.
  • Creating a registration regime for money service businesses.
  • Enabling legislation for enhanced client identification measures.
  • Creating an administrative and monetary penalties’ regime to better enforce compliance with the act.

The interim report of the Standing Senate Committee on Banking, Trade and Commerce is calling for tougher measures to deal with money laundering and terrorist financing, and this legislation and related regulations achieve that goal.

In addition, the federal government has already ensured adequate funding for key partners by announcing, in Budget 2006, $64 million in additional funding over the next two years for FINTRAC, the RCMP and the Department of Justice.

In July, Flaherty announced that Toronto had been selected as the permanent headquarters of the secretariat of the Egmont Group, an organization of 101 of the world’s financial intelligence units, including FINTRAC. Canada’s New Government will contribute $5 million over the next five years to help the secretariat get established.

For the first time ever, Canada has assumed the presidency of the FATF. The FATF is an international body that develops and promotes policies to combat money laundering and terrorist financing.

Regulations needed to fully implement the regime will be developed over the coming months.