The News Rundown

B.C. Election Fact Check: Conservatives say NDP soft on crime

The BC election campaign has unfolded very strangely, with a more vitriolic tone setting in almost from the very beginning, as the increasingly polarizing frontrunners David Eby of the NDP and John Rustad of the Conservatives trading barbs, making policy announcement after policy announcement, and various Conservative candidates getting called out for various statements, as well as the NDP not having their statements scrutinized at all. Meanwhile, Eby's platform has the province going further into debt, while Rustad still has not released a fully costed platform, even though advance voting has already begun.
While going into the minutiae of the campaign could make for an interesting topic to talk about, it's definitely more important to talk about media reporting, and how headlines matter.
The Vancouver Sun recently released an article titled "B.C. Election Fact Check: Conservatives say NDP soft on crime" in which the author attempts to prove that the NDP is not soft on crime, which is already making opinion into news, but regardless, not looking at the topic objectively from the outset already makes it a bad article.
Rustad has accused Eby of being soft on crime and having revolving-door policies that allow dangerous criminals, including convicted pedophiles, back into B.C. communities.
In part, Rustad is referring to the recent case where a B.C. man received a 27-month sentence for having images of child sexual abuse, which Rustad said highlighted the leniency of the justice system under Eby.
“The Eby-Trudeau alliance has proven time and again that they are soft on crime — allowing dangerous criminals, including pedophiles, back onto our streets to prey on children. It’s unacceptable, and British Columbians deserve better,” said Rustad.
On Rustad’s claim that there is a revolving door on dangerous offenders, several repeat offenders have been given bail, and quickly committed more crimes. Still, bail reform is largely a federal issue.
What the article fails to mention is that the failed Eby policy of drug decriminalization made it easier for illicit drugs to get sold on the streets, and for government sanctioned so-called 'safe supply' to get sold in favour of harder, more dangerous street versions. This is a policy that Eby worked with the federal government on, leading Rustad to characterize the two leaders as being in an 'alliance'. It's an association that the NDP don't want, as Canada's supremely unpopular prime minister being tied to Eby is something that voters may think twice about when they go to vote.
The article only talking about one specific case and not the extremely lenient sentences being handed out for violent and dangerous criminals also shows the writer's bias.
Just this week, a man who stabbed a senior to death in Vancouver's Biltmore Hotel building in 2020 has been given a conditional sentence for the killing, meaning he will not serve any jail time if he remains on good behaviour in the community.
The CBC recently profiled several killings or disappearances in Dawson Creek, a remote northern community in BC. In another case, a man in Nanaimo is now wanted on a Canada wide warrant after he disappeared before his court appearance on drug convictions, begging the question as to why he was out in the first place. In yet another case, a convicted killer from Alberta was arrested and re-released this week after skipping a sentencing hearing last month for a 2023 stranger assault in Richmond.
These are all cases that point to the soft on crime approach by both Eby and the federal government that have allowed it to fester, and that's what the article gets wrong. In its defense of the NDP, the writer ignores all the other cases where the system has clearly failed. To put out such biased propaganda masquerading as news is an election campaign tradition that should not continue.
Supplementals:

One of the signature economic policies of this federal government has been an increase on capital gains taxes in Canada.
This week the C.D. Howe Institute says that the capital gains tax increase from the latest budget will see less than 40% of the revenue forecast by the Liberals.
The capital gains tax increases will add a net $3.3b to the federal government revenues. Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland’s department predicted the tax increase would bring in $8.8b yearly.
The paper released by the C.D. Howe Institute says that the discrepancy is due to different assumptions about personal income tax revenues and the “cyclical nature of capital gains realizations and the adjustments firms and individuals may make in response to the tax change.”
The parliamentary budget officer, the country’s fiscal watchdog, has also projected revenue gains will end up lower, saying the increased tax will add just $5.8 billion to personal income tax revenues.
This is all happening because in June the federal government increased the inclusion rate to two-thirds from one-half for gains over $250,000 earned by individuals.
Economists questioned the decision on paper and now we’re seeing the result.
The result of course being less income than expected at the cost of causing those with huge amounts of money to question or pause their investments in Canada.
The capital gains tax increase was levied as a tax on the rich to try and help the Liberals gain favour with younger Canadians.
The government said that the wealthier Canadians would help pay for new programs such as home building, dental care, and pharmacare.
When it comes to personal income tax revenue, the authors point out the budget lacks detail on the assumptions underlying the government’s estimates, so they can’t fully explain the difference. However, several factors may account for the discrepancy.
First, the authors say the most recent data are from the 2021 tax year, when near-zero interest rates, fiscal stimulus and quantitative easing pushed up demand for assets. They accounted for the cyclical nature of capital gains realizations in their projections, but don’t know the extent to which the government did the same.
Further, their projections account for taxpayers responding to changes in capital gains taxes by adjusting the timing and amount of their realizations. And finally, the higher inclusion rate at the corporate level will reduce non-taxable capital gains that can be distributed to owners as tax-free dividends, thereby increasing personal income tax revenues.
Many people see capital gains taxes as an obtuse thing that only the rich have to deal with thus they’re fair play. But the reality is that capital gains taxes and the perception of them have a huge influence on who will invest and the flow of money into the country.
Initially oddsmakers and pollsters alike felt that the capital gains taxes might’ve been a way for the Trudeau Liberals to emerge out of the wilderness but that hasn’t come to pass.
Presently polling says that Canadians have a negative view of the capital gains tax increase. 45% said the changes will decrease investment and weaken the economy.
There have also been talks south of the border with the Harris campaign of potentially taxing unrealized capital gains from primary residences.
There has been some discussion of this potentially happening in Canada but this change did not make it into the summer changes.
As the Liberals get more desperate there is a chance they and maybe the NDP go down this road.
We bring this story to you this week to highlight the ramifications of the capital gains tax increase and how it’s not working out so that you may go forward knowing what to expect next time capital gains are talked about.

TD Bank fined $3B US after pleading guilty in historic U.S. money-laundering case

This week, a public dressing down from the U.S. Attorney General of one of Canada's biggest banking institutions has put a spotlight on just how complicit Canadian companies are when it comes to money laundering.
U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland said TD created an environment "that allowed financial crime to flourish." In a statement he noted that "TD Bank became the largest bank in U.S. history to plead guilty to Bank Secrecy Act program failures, and the first bank in history to plead guilty to conspiracy to commit money laundering."
Toronto-Dominion Bank has been ordered to pay a total of $3.09 billion US in fines after pleading guilty to multiple charges, including conspiracy to violate the Bank Secrecy Act and commit money laundering. The bank has also received a cease-and-desist order and non-financial sanctions from the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC), including an asset cap that put limits on its growth in the U.S. after it was found that TD had "significant, systemic breakdowns in its transaction monitoring program."
Garland said TD admitted in its plea agreement it allowed three money-laundering networks to transfer more than $670 million US through TD Bank accounts over a six-year period, actions which many employees were aware of, yet went unaddressed. At least one of those schemes involved five TD Bank employees laundering drug proceeds.
For years, TD Bank "willfully" failed to monitor transactions properly, leaving gaping holes that allowed millions of dollars to flow through the bank, the DOJ revealed. One money-laundering network "dumped piles of cash on the bank's counters," while another another "allegedly withdrew amounts from ATMs 40 to 50 times higher than the daily limit for personal accounts," U.S. Attorney Philip R. Sellinger for the District of New Jersey said in a statement.
In another money-laundering scheme, one TD Bank employee, identified as "David," in most articles, but is actually a New York man named Da Ying Sze, moved more than $470 million dollars in illicit funds through TD Bank branches in the U.S. This individual, who has separately pled guilty to laundering drug proceeds through the bank, found that "TD Bank had the most permissive policies and procedures, and so chose to launder most of his funds there."
Da Ying Sze in February 2022 pled guilty for his role in coordinating a $653 million money laundering conspiracy, operating an unlicensed money transmitting business, and bribing bank employees in connection with financial transactions.
Meanwhile, TD Bank has agreed to a major restructuring of their anti-money-laundering program, as well as three years of monitoring and five years of probation. The implementation of any new programs or services in their U.S. branches will have to go through more stringent approval processes as well, as ordered by the OCC.
The asset cap placed on TD Bank by the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency will not apply to any of the bank's business in Canada or other countries, but it will curtail growth within the U.S., where TD is the 10th largest bank.
A separate requirement that TD relocate to the United States parts of its anti-money-laundering compliance program that are responsible for complying with U.S. law leaves the impression that it will result in a loss of Canadian jobs. Worse still, it is a black eye for Canadian regulators, including the Office of the Superintendent of Financial Institutions (OSFI) and the Financial Transactions and Reports Analysis Centre of Canada (FinTRAC).
That speaks volumes about the loss of confidence in Canada’s regulatory regime. In May, U.S. regulators questioned why their Canadian counterparts previously failed to spot and remedy problems with TD’s anti-money-laundering risk controls. It remains a valid question.
Bharat Masrani, CEO of TD Bank Group, said in a statement that the bank has "taken full responsibility," and will be making "the investments, changes and enhancements required to deliver on our commitments," calling this a 'difficult chapter' in the bank's history before apologizing to 'stakeholders'.
Masrani and other senior leaders expressed contrition. But their message rang hollow because they stuck to the same old script even after U.S. officials disclosed that TD’s problems are systemic and the criminal investigation continues to scrutinize individuals “up and down the corporate ladder.”
TD’s executives and board members don’t seem to realize how badly they’ve broken trust with investors. The U.S. Department of Justice’s revelations were shocking because the bank spent years glossing over the scope of its money-laundering failures.
Canadians shouldn’t have to count on the U.S. justice system and US news outlets to provide transparency about Canadian banks. It’s time for TD’s executives to drop the PR-speak and make this right, and for Canadian media to begin reporting on the actual news, and not just parrot whatever comes out of the mouths of the government.
As for the money laundering, who knows how far down it goes? We covered money laundering on Western Context as early as 2018, but we still have no conclusion to the story, as it's clearly still going on. It's time that the federal government take this problem seriously and stop allowing criminals to take advantage of our broken systems.
Supplementals:

Firing Line

Canadian doctors warned to be on the lookout for scurvy

This week a strange report came across our feeds: Canadian doctors warned to be on the lookout for scurvy.
Scurvy is a disease which we don’t see that often and it results from having a severe deficiency of vitamin C which is found in citrus fruits as well as certain vegetables.
It was also a disease that explorers from the far distant future dealt with. Explorers that crossed oceans and found new lands. It’s not a disease we expect to see in 2024.
A report was published in the Canadian Medical Association Journal that detailed the case of a 65 year old woman who was diagnosed with Scurvy at a Toronto hospital last year.
As a result Canadian doctors have been asked to be on the lookout for the disease.
And in particular that doctors need to consider the possibility of scurvy when diagnosing patients especially when dealing with patients at higher risk for nutritional deficiencies.
This includes isolated older people and people with low socioeconomic status.
Doctors have been asked to look for it because it is something that could be glossed over.
Dr. Sally Engelhart who is the lead author of the study on scurvy said, "Really, if you're not thinking about scurvy, then there's no way that you're going to be able to diagnose it … the case presents a complex example of food insecurity manifesting as an uncommon diagnosis."
Reports say there are no clear stats saying that there is an increasing rise in Canada but it is a growing problem in the US.
A study published in July that examined hospital records of some 19 million children in the U.S. found the incidence of scurvy tripled in a four-year period. The rate went from 8.2 cases per 100,000 children in 2016 to 26.7 cases per 100,000 children in 2020.
The woman who turned up at the Toronto hospital lived a socially isolated life, had little family support, and limited mobility. She’d also been living entirely on canned soup, canned tuna, white bread, and processed cheese with no fresh produce.
Pierre Poilieve also noticed the story and posted on X saying, “This is not a headline from a century ago. This is people worrying about scurvy, in Canada, in 2024, after 9 years of NDP-Liberal carbon taxes and inflation driving up the cost of food.“
As we detailed in our story there’s no clear increase in incidence in Canada - mainly because a study hasn’t been done - but it is something doctors should keep their eyes open for.
Symptoms of scurvy can be seen within eight to 12 weeks of inadequate intake of vitamin C, and can include fatigue, large patches of bruising, bleeding gums, as well as hemorrhages that make hair follicles appear bright red. Left untreated, it can lead to spontaneous internal bleeding, the destruction of red blood cells and, eventually, death.
It has also been something that looking at data through McMaster University we see that 52 hospitalized patients between 2009 and 2017 had vitamin C levels low enough to cause scurvy. 13 were diagnosed with the disease.
Now many folks of course will say this is something that has been been with us for a while but Dr. Andrew Boozary who was not involved in the CMAJ report and is a primary care physician at the University of Toronto’s Dalla Lana School of Public Health said that the stats "speak to some of the really troubling statistics that families and households are facing with [lack of] food security."
And that’s the key, this starts with food security and that of course is impacted by how prosperous Canadians are which of course has taken a hit during the Trudeau administration but also since the pandemic. We have not recovered.
And this is yet another thing that has got worse over the last 9 years and we should be extremely alarmed about.
Supplementals:

https://x.com/PierrePoilievre/status/1843404918176264338

Quote of the Week

"Really, if you're not thinking about scurvy, then there's no way that you're going to be able to diagnose it … the case presents a complex example of food insecurity manifesting as an uncommon diagnosis." - Dr. Sally Engelhart on diagnosing scurvy in Canada.

Word of the Week

archaic - very old or old-fashioned

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Show Data

Episode Title: Archaic Problems
Teaser: A misleading article defends Eby’s crime record, capital gains tax increases yield less revenue than expected, and TD bank is fined billions in the US for money laundering. Also, Canadian doctors now have to be on the lookout for scurvy.
Recorded Date: October 12, 2024
Release Date: October 13, 2024
Duration: 52:32
Edit Notes: Third story pause

Podcast Summary Notes

Duration: XX:XX