The great Canadian bureaucratic cow, bloated from years of overeating in the pasture of government incompetence, is tipped over, bellowing, and ready for decompression—but there are no political veterinarians in Ottawa—only Minister François-Philippe Champagne, who doesn’t know teat from tail.
Champagne has announced a new financial crimes agency—classic Liberal posturing: big on optics, short on followthrough. Canada already has OSFI ensuring financial stability, FINTRAC tracking illicit transactions, and the RCMP chasing fraudsters.
Why add another layer of bureaucracy when taxpayers are already crushed by inflation, housing costs, and a ballooning federal debt?
Ottawa claims the agency will “unify expertise” to tackle 21st-century crimes like phishing and crypto scams. But FINTRAC already processes millions of reports yearly, and the RCMP has specialized financial-crime units.
The 2022 budget floated a similar idea, burning $2 million on “design work” with no results. Now, we’re promised a new entity with an unspecified budget—likely millions more—for offices, staff, and bureaucracy.
Coordination, not creation, is what’s needed: better tech for FINTRAC, stronger RCMP training, and tougher crypto regulations.
The move reeks of Liberal excess. Since 2015, federal public service jobs have surged by over 110,000—a 43 percent increase—bloated by an expanding bureaucracy.
As of March 31, the head-count of the federal public service was 357,965.
Canadians, facing a cost-of-living crisis, can’t afford more open-ended government spending. Champagne’s agency isn’t a solution—it’s a symptom of Ottawa’s addiction to red tape over results.
Budget 2025, set for November, should prioritize leaner government and real crime-fighting—not another costly acronym. Taxpayers deserve better than a redundant mirage.