Meanwhile, the criminals with stashed money have become, with help from Canadian lawyers and accountants, very adept at evading taxes, hiding the extent of their holdings and intentions - like whether they "wish" to live in a property.

What Canada desperately needs is a full registry of all real estate property. All sales would then be taxed through withholdings at the time of sale. This would end many current tax evading practices.

Those attempting to circumvent this through holding the property in a foreign corporation, would be subject to an annual withholding tax equal to say 10% of the value of the property.

We in Canada hold the "whip hand" on this. The question is whether real estate is for the benefit of all Canadians or only for the speculators