Dear Beverly McLaughlin, Canada has over 100 financial Rigulators... and no Regulators in sight?

June 8, 2017

Madam Justice Beverly McLaughlin
Supreme Court of Canada
301 Wellington St, 
Ottawa, ON 
K1A 0J1

Dear Justice Beverly McLaughlin,

I write to you out of fear that our systems of justice are being blemished in Canada with a reputation for being soft (or two-tiered?) on systemic financial crime.  

Systemic financial crime is the organized, well connected and infuential use of status, self regulation, paid-regulation and captured regulation, to capture the highest moral ground, and then this can be used to do unethical or immoral things to Canadians.  I enclose a few examples below, from my few decades of observation.

What will become of our country as we:

(1) “Exempt” banks, public corporations and investment dealers from thousands of our laws, without a single warning to the public of their newly acquired ability to be free from those laws.

(2) Let our most well-organized financial entities hire private “rental-cops” to oversee and to police their activities, which allows them to ignore laws at will.  (In 2017, CBC reveals findings of 120,000 commission sales agents who falsely represent themselves to Canadians as 'advisors' whilst not holding such registration)

(3) Remove ‘erase’ or ‘delete’ laws which call for jail terms for our biggest financial criminals (Hiding this fact in plain sight, within a bill which suggests just the opposite is taking place to protect the public.) 

(4) Remove Canada’s best investigators of banking and investment abuses, and FORBID them to ever again investigate issues of a systemic nature. (financially abusive issues which may affect millions of clients) (see a list in comments section for this article)

(5)  Allow International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) to replace GAAP (Generally Accepted Accounting Principles) in Canada in 2011, which essentially allows "mark to fantasy" asset valuations to quote some financial experts.  Dr. Al Rosen and his son Mark, two of Canada's foremost forensic accountants have produced a book in 2017 titled EASY PREY INVESTORS, which describes the multitude of tricks that Canadian companies can now use to manipulate corporate valuations.  The USA refused to convert to IFRS, and for good reason according to Dr. Rosen.  See this New York Times article from July 7, 2017 illustrating the risk to investors:  https://www.nytimes.com/2017/07/07/business/warren-buffett-investing-can...

https://www.amazon.ca/Easy-Prey-Investors-Broken-Threaten/dp/077354819X
I enclose specific examples of (3) and (4) above, where systems of financial regulation have been captured and altered to the detriment of our society. I also have examples of the other two which I will gladly share if requested. I beg your consideration of this matter in the interests of social justice.

Certain of our systems or rules, regulations or laws, appear to be intentionally designed so that one class of citizens can place themselves ‘above’ or ‘outside’ of the law, while the rest of Canadians must operate ‘beneath’ or ‘within’.

Throughout history this has occurred much to the detriment of social justice, and I am saddened to witness it occurring repeatedly here in Canada.

To bring about financial and social injustice, all that is required are systems of regulation, policing, justice etc, that enable financial acts which are against the public interest, to receive preferential, if not ‘zero’ consequences for their harms to society.  

In 2009, I testified to a Parliamentary Committee on Justice and Human Rights. This Committee was formed to look into tighter criminal sanctions for financial industry criminals after the sub-prime mortgage collapse of 2008. This collapse (or systemic robbery) removed on billion dollars, from the PPSP, (the pension plan for Judges and RCMP officers etc), and in total $32 billion overall from Canadians with these financial instruments. The result of the Committee process was the creation of Bill C- 52, (Minimum sentences for white-collar crime).

The only documented result that occurred from this bill, in my eyes, was that in the writing of Bill C-52 the criminal code section 380, and more specifically subsection 2, which applied jail terms to bankers, investment persons, or those who dealt in the “public markets” instruments, was simply 'eliminated'. Erased as if it does not even exist in the Criminal Code of Canada, but yet it does. It just does not exist in this Bill C-52.

It was as if bankers in Canada were granted a free “do not go to jail” card in the most clever way imaginable. By simply erasing, deleting or forgetting to include subsection 2, in this Bill. This caused the intended jail provisions for financial fraud, to specifically not apply to public markets fraudsters, or to those who caused and profited from the financial collapse of 2008.

I witnessed this in a room in the East Block where the hearing was held, while bells were ringing and hearings were interrupted to prorogue Parliament during my speaking time. I could not believe what I was seeing and to this day I marvel at how easy it was to rig a Justice Bill, whilst pretending to improve justice. The rigging of the system was hidden…in plain sight.

Fast forward to June 7, 2017. I was once again invited to speak to the Parliamentary committee, this time a finance committee, established after CBC news investigators revealed that Canadian bank employees, were being abused by the banks, and being bullied, intimidated or forced to do financial harm to bank customers.  

Over 3000 bank employees contacted CBC Go Public, and told of how they were being abused and bullied in the workplace, to push the employees to abuse Canadians financially, so banks could earn more money.

I was asked very good questions by almost every member of this FINA Committee, and it was in the answering of one of those questions that I found myself becoming quite emotional, almost upset.

I cannot remember the question I was asked, but by way of answering I explained that the majority of financial regulators in Canada are established and paid for by the investment industry itself, the very people that the regulators are supposed to police. 

This has always struck me as incredibly unskillful design, until I came to the understanding that it is quite likely the intentional design. I have come to the realization that regulators are not always there to insulate the public from financial abusers, but may exist more often to protect and insulate our highest level financial abusers from Justice and accountability. 

Approximately 100 various industry paid bodies helps to keep the police and crown prosecutors from looking at financial matters. They act as "buffers", "insulators" or "barriers" to ensure that mattes of criminality or public abusive matters will not see the light of day.

It means that they never look at systemic financial matters, leaving the ‘inner workings’ of the system to others. This no matter how many billions in harm may be done to Canada.  

In one example the official Canadian Banking Ombudsman, which goes by the acronym OBSI, was in the last few years prohibited, limited, or forbidden from investigating, studying, preventing or even reporting upon matters which involve systemic financial crime or abuse, by those who were under its mandate.

I knew this was the case all along, but it was not until June 7, 2017, that it hit me: Canada's official banking ombudsman, charged with investigation and protection of Canadian banking and financial customers, is now prevented by decree, rule, or perhaps by limited mandate** from its ability to investigate financial crimes of a systemic nature. ** (see OBSI altered terms of reference with “systemic” struck out seven times https://www.obsi.ca/download/fm/149)

They are still allowed to act as banking ombudsman on a case-by-case basis, if my understanding is correct, but if the matter is systemic and able to affect millions of Canadians, they are no longer allowed to proceed. 

Thus one of the only remaining, effective, bodies in the country has been told, and if you will forgive my layperson understanding, that it is no longer allowable for our official banking ombudsman to investigate systemic financial illegalities. They have been neutered.

Thus I write to you Madam Justice out my lack of understanding of how to inform, protect and make Canadians aware, of how their economic freedoms are being manipulated, in hidden behind the scenes manners. This is approaching financial injustice to a level sufficient to cause social injustice in our country. Can we afford to sell out any one of these trusted systems? What will become of our society if we stand by and watch this occur?

My speaking to Finance Committee on the question of OBSI can be found in this1 minute and 20 second video at 16:33:00 to 16:34:20 on Wednesday June 7, 2017:  http://parlvu.parl.gc.ca/XRender/en/Pow ... %2010_11_6)%20AppleWebKit/603.2.5%20(KHTML,%20like%20Gecko)%20Version/10.1.1%20Safari/603.2.5

The emotion I felt in Committee is for my grandchildren, perhaps yours, and those of every other Canadian.  

It is for this reason, that I will continue to ask Parliamentary committees, to please prevent the rampant criminality of Canadian banks and financial players, and speak out against the immunity that these players have when harming society.

Millions of Canadians have been financially, morally and mentally injured by the injustices that are allowed to benefit only a few (3?) sectors of the economy.

I thank you for the courageous stands that you have taken in the past, on behalf of Canadians, even when your comments were not entirely flattering to your own legal profession. I applaud that moral courage in you.

I thank you for perhaps pondering and considering some of this note. I expect no immediate answer and will not bother you again. I will, however, be at your service if I am requested.

Kind regards,

Larry Elford