Canada’s choice is stark: evolve into a credible partner in North American security or remain a banana republic at the elite level masquerading as a G7 nation.

Brave New Normal with investigative journalist Sam Cooper of The Bureau

Highlights from the discussion:

The TD Bank money laundering scandal—a microcosm of Canada’s systemic collusion with transnational crime—reveals a nation torn between geopolitical realities and elite corruption. Canada’s token penalties and regulatory inertia signal tacit endorsement of a parallel economy where Chinese-linked operatives and cartels exploit weak oversight.

The staggering disparity in penalties for TD Bank’s money laundering scandal—a USD 3.1 billion fine versus Canada’s symbolic $9 million slap—exposes systemic complicity in enabling Chinese fentanyl-linked financial crimes, asserts investigative journalist Sam Cooper.

He argues Canada’s financial elite—including TD board members and figures like Mark Carney—benefit from lax oversight, prioritizing profit over national security. The absence of consequences for laundering billions in fentanyl profits underscores a governance crisis, enabling cartels and CCP-linked networks to weaponize trade and immigration systems.

Canada’s financial framework rewards negligence, allowing criminal enterprises to thrive. Until regulators enforce transparency and accountability, contends Cooper, the nation remains a haven for global organized crime, with deadly consequences for North America’s opioid epidemic.

How it works:

CCP Orchestration: The Chinese Communist Party outsourced fentanyl production to North America, eclipsing traditional cartels. Operatives, including state-connected elites and crime bosses, manage operations from Toronto, Vancouver, and Mexico City, laundering profits through TD Bank.

Diaspora Exploitation: Chinese international students in the U.S. are recruited via WeChat as “money mules,” funneling cartel cash into TD Bank branches with complicit staff oversight—mirroring the “Vancouver Model” of casino-based laundering.

Systemic Failures: Canada’s weak financial regulations, immigration controls, and lack of organized crime laws enable these networks. High-level U.S. sources confirm the CCP’s strategic use of trade integration to undermine democratic institutions.

Canada’s choice is stark, concludes Cooper: evolve into a credible partner in North American security or remain a banana republic at the elite level masquerading as a G7 nation. The fentanyl crisis—and its banking accomplices—demand a reckoning long deferred.

As Canada counts down to the federal election on April 28, voters need to scrutinize contender Mark Carney’s financial entanglements with China. These include his ties to the massive investment firm Brookfield Asset Management as its chair before stepping down to run for the Liberal Party leadership earlier this year. Brookfield’s $3-billion Shanghai real estate gamble at market peak, a subsequent $250 million bailout loan from Beijing’s state-owned Bank of China, and high-level meetings with Xi Jinping—should spark fears of compromised governance and concerns over Carney’s capacity to mitigate risks of Chinese influence over Canadian policy.