Change of Seasons

EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, THE SOCIETY OF NOTARIES PUBLIC OF BC

The arrival of Fall brings the return to school for students young and old and the inevitable shift in the housing market.

To market-watchers, it won’t be a surprise that I say this year has been unlike many others in our history. While there is some indication the downward trend in the housing market is lessening, there are continuing concerns regarding the world-wide economy. It’s an uncertain time with a Canadian federal election looming and the long runup starting for the US federal election.

Elections are peculiar times. Whereas parties set out their platforms and espouse various broad and global policies designed to appease all, that is rarely the case.

I would look to the teachers in this province as an example. Few would disagree that teachers are an important—maybe the most important—part of our education system, public or private.

Teachers are the thread that binds the fabric of childhood through the years of teenage angst to the development of caring contributing members of society. In BC, those teachers, valuable as they are, are paid less, in fact much less than their counterparts in Alberta, Saskatchewan, and pretty much everywhere else in Canada.

It was those same teachers who on principle, after suffering a provincial law that dismantled their contract by unilaterally increasing class size, appeared in the Supreme Court of Canada to argue the validity of that provincial statute. The Supreme Court found the law was not valid and reinstated many of the provisions (including class size) that the law had changed.

Few would disagree that teachers are an important… part of our education system, public or private.

The Government in the majority stood by its law while the opposition railed against it. Those same teachers were influential in the last provincial election and now, with the previous opposition in the majority, find that not much has changed.

Teachers as professionals are not alone in this predicament. Indeed, the professionals who work in real estate find themselves in a similar situation. In this year alone, the German and Maloney Reports set forth staggering numbers related to money laundering. Maloney found a total of $46.7 billion was laundered through Canada’s economy with $5.3 billion

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of that amount used to fund real estate purchases in BC. We now look forward to the Cullen Commission of Inquiry into Money Laundering that will examine, among other things, money laundering through real estate.

BC Notaries, real estate professionals, and mortgage brokers are all subject to Canada’s Anti-Money Laundering/Anti-Terrorist Financing legislation. All are required to comply with complex legislative requirements including keeping detailed records of business relationships, discovering source of funds, and reporting suspicious transactions.

Lawyers, who are not subject to AML/ATF legislation, are developing their own systems in response to the scourge of money laundering.

It’s not just AML/ATF legislation that adds to the burden. Changing lender requirements, tighter lending rules, GST, PST, PPTT, and the Land Ownership Transparency registry will all add to the cost of real estate and that cost will ultimately be borne by consumers.

Consumers rely on highly educated and trained professionals for the sound advice they are provide. Regardless of the profession, those individuals work hard every day to benefit their clients through the provision of services.

One thing is for sure . . . the change of season will bring us even more interesting times. s