While ministers must either sell their shares in publicly-traded companies or turn them over to a trustee to avoid a conflict of interest, there is no such requirement constraining their husbands or wives under current ethics rules.
A Citizen review of asset statements filed by MPs shows that Harper’s wife, Laureen, as well as the spouses of Finance Minister Jim Flaherty, Labour Minister Lisa Raitt and five other cabinet ministers currently hold investment accounts unencumbered by blind trusts.
Flaherty’s wife, for example, holds shares in a chartered bank that is currently awaiting her husband’s approval to acquire another bank.
In most cases, the names of the stocks owned by cabinet spouses are not known publicly.
The office of Ethics Commissioner Mary Dawson says that while there is no requirement for spouses or other family members to use blind trusts, cabinet ministers are still covered by the general provision to avoid acting in a conflict.
They are subject to “the prohibition against using insider information to seek to further their private interests or those of their relatives or friends or to improperly further another person’s private interests,” said spokesperson Jocelyne Brisebois in an email.
Dawson’s office says she has not conducted any investigations related to spousal assets and was vague about whether she received itemized lists of stock holdings, saying that public office holders are required to make a “reasonable” efforts to detail spousal assets.
According to the prime minister’s disclosure statement, Laureen Harper’s portfolio with the investment firm Raymond James Ltd. is “partly comprised” of publicly-traded companies.
Harper himself lists no stock holdings, suggesting that the couple’s financial investments are made in her name. In August, they took out a joint loan from the Bank of Nova Scotia. Its value or purpose were not publicly disclosed.
Harper’s office refused to say which stocks his wife’s portfolio contains, or whether any of them are among the Alberta energy companies whose future performance could depend on upcoming cabinet decisions about pipeline policy and Chinese investment in the oilsands.
“All information about Mrs. Harper’s investments is regularly disclosed to the Office of the Ethics Commissioner in accordance with the Act,” said director of communications Andrew MacDougall. He would not say how much the portfolio is worth.
Flaherty’s wife, Ontario MPP Christine Elliott, has a self-directed RRSP with RBC Dominion Securities. As an MPP, Elliott is required to file her own assets declaration with the Ontario Integrity Commissioner.
Her statement shows an RRSP containing shares in the Bank of Nova Scotia, BCE Inc., Leons Furniture Ltd, Nal Energy Corporation, AnnTaylor Stores Corp and units of RBC Global Precious Metals mutual fund.
The Bank of Nova Scotia is seeking government approval for its proposed take over of ING Bank of Canada. Flaherty will decide on the deal after considering a recommendation from the Superintendent of Financial Institutions
“The Finance Minister does not discuss cabinet confidences with Ms. Elliott so there is no conflict of interest with her management of her holdings,” said Flaherty’s spokesman, Chisholm Pothier.
Pothier noted there is no requirement to disclose the contents of Elliott’s portfolio to the federal ethics commissioner, even though it was provided to the Ontario Integrity Commissioner.
The Elliott-Flaherty situation is unusual, however. No other cabinet minister’s spouses are subject to public disclosure of the names of individual securities in their portfolios.
Effectively, Canadians must trust there is nothing in these portfolios that could clash with their spouses’ public duties or, if there is, that they wouldn’t act on any cabinet confidences their husbands or wives let slip.
The ethics regime contrasts sharply with the U.S. example, where divestiture and blind trusts for family assets are the norm. Presidential candidate Mitt Romney’s wife, Ann, for example, has put her assets into a blind trust during the campaign, even though her husband holds no office.
The apparent lack of scrutiny of the Harpers’ holdings also contrasts with the experience of his predecessor, Paul Martin, whose ownership of a family shipping company was controlled through a controversial “blind management agreement” administered by then Ethics Commissioner Howard Wilson.
When it was discovered that Martin got occasional updates on Canada Steamship Lines from Wilson while he served as finance minister, the Opposition denounced the scheme as a “Venetian blind trust.” Martin eventually transferred ownership of the company to his children before he became prime minister.
Harper, then-opposition leader, was particularly critical of Martin’s arrangement, saying, “A blind trust should be a deaf trust as well,” and vowing in the 2005-06 election campaign to end the practice.
Harper has not been constrained by any compliance measures set by the ethics commissioner related to his wife’s stock portfolio. She is free to trade securities as she sees fit.
The only known ethics restriction on Harper requires him to recuse himself from any dealings with Talisman Energy, where his brother works as an accountant. The Alberta energy company that is also ripe for takeover by Asian investors, like Nexen Inc., whose takeover by China’s CNOOC hangs on approval by Harper’s cabinet.
Similarly, there is no blind trust requirement for labour minister Raitt’s partner, Bruce Wood, who has an RRSP of securities through TD Waterhouse Discount Brokerage. Her office did not respond to a request for more information about the RRSP.
Spouses of International Cooperation Minister Julian Fantino and junior cabinet ministers Tim Uppal (Democratic Reform), Lynne Yelich (Western Economic Diversification), Diane Ablonczy (Foreign Affairs, Americas and Consular Affairs) and Gary Goodyear (Science and Technology) also have investment portfolios with public securities.
Original Article
Source: canada.com
Author: GLEN MCGREGOR
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