Indeed. What good fortune. The Minister of Finance may just have one million shares. That is debatable. He probably has two million shares in Morneau Shepell, and he introduces Bill C-27, which would bring business to his own company, from which he profits.
Bill C-27 would replace defined benefits with target benefits. These benefits are essentially like Jell-O. It is a Jell-O retirement plan in which no one has any idea how much they will have in retirement. There is a target, an objective. For example, you would like to have $1,000 a month, but there is no guarantee that this will happen. This type of plan is extremely complicated to manage. Companies like Morneau Shepell manage them.
Did the Minister of Finance place all of his assets and shares in a blind trust, as he indicated in the beginning when he was elected?
Surprise, surprise, Madam Speaker, the answer is no. I can feel the disappointment.
The Minister of Finance is a very smart, but sometimes wily, man, and he used a loophole to avoid putting his shares and assets in a blind trust. He put them in a numbered company. He thought that no one would realize, and meanwhile, his own company, and therefore his own bank account, would profit from Bill C-27, which he introduced.
The Minister of Finance put himself in a blatant conflict of interest. As soon as Bill C-27 was introduced, it had an effect on the markets. Morneau Shepell shares went up.