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B.C.’s NDP leader is calling for a task force of experts to investigate fraud, money laundering and tax evasion, saying those are part of the root cause behind skyrocketing housing prices in the Lower Mainland.

John Horgan said Wednesday that such an “integrated task force” would bring together tax experts from the Ministry of Finance, legal experts, Crown prosecutors and others to investigate the issue of speculative investment from offshore money and whether that complies with Canadian laws.

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Citing audits by the Financial Transactions and Reports Analysis Centre of Canada, Horgan said that “FINTRAC did 82 audits, and 55 of the 82 audits of the real estate market in the Lower Mainland did not comply with anti-money laundering regulations. There’s no shortage of evidence. There’s a problem here.”

Horgan called on the B.C. Liberal government to launch the task force, but said an NDP government would put it into action if it wins the May 2017 provincial election.