May 25, 2016
Vancouverites love secret tax haven companies. So much so that Metro Vancouver addresses are about four times as likely to feature in the Panama Papers and Offshore leaks database as Canadian addresses as a whole, per capita. Their presence on this basis more than doubles that of Toronto addresses, despite that city’s status as the financial capital of Canada. A few hours spent burrowing into the database of financial information leaked to the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ) reveals even wider disparities. City of Vancouver addresses are 8.2 times as likely to appear as Canadian addresses as a whole (32 addresses/100,000 population vs 3.9/100,000), while Richmond addresses (34.1/100,000) were 8.7 times as likely to appear. But the epicentre of addresses linked to these tax haven firms, at least on a density basis, is West Vancouver. Long a bolthole of the rich and famous (and/or infamous), West Van addresses appear in the database at a rate of 75/100,000 population – some 19.2 times the Canadian norm.
It isn’t hugely surprising that centres of wealth should feature relatively more people trying to hide it. But when compared to Canada’s other major population centres, Vancouver clearly punches above its weight. The ICIJ database, uploaded in a searchable format this month, is based on a vast trove of leaks from the Panama-based Mossack Fonseca law firm, which for decades helped the global rich hide their assets in offshore tax havens such as the British Virgin Islands. Also included are data from the ICIJ’s 2013 Offshore Leaks investigation. The millions of documents have revealed the secret dealings of wealthy gangsters, politicians, celebrities and sportsmen from around the world.