[iEatClams]

Interesting article:

Opinion: Kowtowing to communists wrong approach for B.C.

highlights:

According to a survey by the Bank of China, more than half of China’s instant millionaires are either considering emigrating or have already taken steps to do so, worried that China’s economic growth will be derailed by high inflation, a real estate bubble, and a sharp slowdown in external consumer demand. Millions of Chinese people are also dying of cancer thanks to intense pollution. These concerns have resulted in a huge increase in the number of newly rich Chinese people secretly buying high-end real estate in major western cities like Los Angeles, London and Vancouver — all financed by western consumers.

Another report by the Bank of China titled How Corrupt Officials Transfer Assets Overseas estimated that as many as 18,000 Communist party officials have fled from China with hundreds of billions of dollars. Each official looted, on average, an estimated $7 million. No bureaucrats in Canada seem to question where all these instant fortunes have somehow emanated.

Singapore has placed a “stamp tax” on foreign buyers. Australia permits foreigners to buy only new housing, requires temporary residents to sell properties when they leave, and has launched an official inquiry into offshore investment. British politicians are proposing a levy on overseas buyers who leave their properties empty. Vancouver city hall? Nothing.

Kowtowing to rich foreign investors who have substantially raised the cost of living in Lotus Land may be convenient politics this month, but it doesn’t make for good long-term policy.