Mr. Speaker, yes, it is true. I invite the member to look at the numbers, which speak for themselves.
With regard to her question, when the Minister of Finance arrived in Ottawa, he did what is expected of all ministers, all parliamentary secretaries, and all members. He went to see an independent and impartial institution, the Ethics Commissioner. He presented his situation to her and followed her recommendations. The Ethics Commissioner has been very clear about that. She recommended that he put in place a conflict of interest screen. That measure was good enough for the member's former colleague, Denis Lebel, and for the member for Milton. The minister put that screen in place from the get-go, and it is still in place today. The Ethics Commissioner herself said that this was the best measure of compliance to ensure that the minister followed the rules that govern us here in the House, and that is what he did.
The member talked about blind trusts and the $200 fine in the same breath without explaining what really happened. What everyone needs to know is that the minister has always declared all of his assets to the Ethics Commissioner. That includes the property in France to which the member referred that led to the $200 fine. Because of an administrative error, the corporation that owned the property was not properly declared. The property itself was known to the Ethics Commissioner, along with all the rest of the minister's assets, because he did what we are all expected to do, which is work transparently with the commissioner.
It is also worth pointing out that, to avoid further distraction, the minister announced that he would place all of his assets in a blind trust and divest all of his shares in Morneau Shepell, which he did. He even said he would give any profit on those shares since the election to charities in the Toronto region. That is what the minister did and, I should point out, that is what he has been doing for years, because he and his family are leading philanthropists. That is what he did to avoid distraction and concentrate on the work he is doing for the Canadian economy and Canadians. His two-year record is much better than that of the previous government, which did a poor job of managing the economy for 10 years.