House of Commons photoWon his last election, in 2021, with 50% of the vote.
Ethics November 29th, 2017
Mr. Speaker, yesterday I repeated outside of the House the same questions that I have been asking inside of the House. Unfortunately, the minister will not answer those questions in either of those two places.
Somebody sold $10 million of shares a week before the minister introduced tax changes that caused the stock market and Morneau Shepell shares to drop. Was that somebody him?
Ethics November 28th, 2017
Mr. Speaker, I tried asking the minister inside the House of Commons if he sold 680,000 shares on November 30 and now I invited him to come and answer that question outside the House of Commons. The House will be disappointed to learn that he did not show up to answer the question, so will the Prime Minister answer it on his behalf?
Who was it who sold 680,000 Morneau Shepell shares one week before tax measures were introduced on the floor of the House?
Ethics November 28th, 2017
Mr. Speaker, the member is absolutely right: we did do a panel yesterday, at which point, outside of the walls of this House, I asked when the Minister of Finance sold his 680,000 shares in Morneau Shepell. I also enumerated all the facts leading up to that sale, and I am absolutely confident that everything I have said out there and in here is true. Would he commit that, if I go out and repeat my question in the lobby at this moment, the finance minister will meet me there and answer the question?
Ethics November 28th, 2017
Mr. Speaker, now we are back to “everything was done with the Ethics Commissioner”. I wonder if the minister told the Ethics Commissioner that he was going to sell $10 million of shares in stocks that would drop only a week later when he introduced a bill affecting the entire stock market.
I will ask that question directly. Did the minister discuss the date of the sale of the shares along with the date of his motion on taxes?
Ethics November 28th, 2017
Mr. Speaker, yesterday John Ivison indicated that he received some documents showing that the sale of the 680,000 shares by the minister would have happened on December 3. December 3 would be the settlement date for a sale that would have happened on November 30. We know that such a sale occurred by somebody, and that somebody avoided a five per cent drop in Morneau Shepell shares, which happened after he introduced his motion.
Can the minister confirm that he was the one who sold that block of stock?
Ethics November 28th, 2017
Mr. Speaker, the member says that the tax change was promised. So was electoral reform; so was the $10-billion deficit that suddenly became $20 billion; and so was the tax on stock options that never happened. Promises mean nothing. Motions in the House of Commons move markets, and only the minister knew when he would introduce that motion and was able to predict what impact it would have on stock markets.
Someone sold 680,000 shares prior to the introduction of that motion, saving a half-million dollars. Who was it?
Budget Implementation Act, 2017, No. 2 November 28th, 2017
Mr. Speaker, the government is now proposing to rush through a bill, moved by the Minister of Finance, without adequate debate among Canadians, not only about the substance of the bill but the conduct of the minister in crafting it and other similar legislation.
The very first financial legislation introduced in this House by the finance minister was a notice of ways and means on December 7, 2015, that would raise the effective capital gains tax on January 1, 2016, only about three weeks after the introduction of that said motion. Financial advisers told investors that they should quickly sell their shares in order to realize gains before that tax increase would take effect only days later. The result was that the stock market fell by 5% from the day before the introduction of that notice of ways and means until seven days after.
Morneau Shepell shares also fell by 5%, but not before somebody was able to sell their shares in Morneau Shepell and avoid those losses. Someone sold 680,000 shares, worth $10.2 million, one week before the finance minister introduced his motion on the floor of the House of Commons. That person was very wise and had great foreknowledge and ability to project what was to come.
I am asking if the Minister of Finance can tell us who it was who made that sale of 680,000 Morneau Shepell shares.
Ethics November 27th, 2017
Mr. Speaker, it is not clear that the minister understands the seriousness of the situation. Somebody unloaded $10 million of Morneau Shepell shares one week before the minister introduced measures that would cause the share value to go down by 5%, a significant drop. That individual was able to save $500,000.
Now, I am going to give the minister one last chance. Will he answer the question? Was he the one who sold those shares at that time?
Ethics November 27th, 2017
Once again, Mr. Speaker, financial advisers told investors to sell their shares after the minister introduced his tax increase on the floor of the House of Commons. His department has now confirmed that this is exactly what happened. That is why revenues in the subsequent year from the wealthiest Canadians actually went down, and the stock market data itself demonstrates a drop after he introduced his measures. Morneau Shepell was down 5%, but once again, someone was able to sell their shares a week before that. Was the minister that somebody?
Ethics November 27th, 2017
Mr. Speaker, prominent financial advisers told investors, in publications across the country, to sell their shares and realize their gains before the end of the calendar year of 2015, after the minister introduced his tax measures on the floor of the House of Commons, but a week before he did that, somebody sold $10 million of shares in Morneau Shepell, saving half a million dollars by avoiding the consequent drop in the stock market. If the minister has nothing to hide, could he confirm if that person was him?