Minister’s spouse is stock market guru

Last year, I wrote about the quirk in federal conflict-of-interest rules for cabinet ministers that requires them to put their publicly-traded stock portfolios into blind trusts but imposes no such requirements on their spouses, who are free to trade in whichever securities they please.

Among those who held a stock portfolio was the prime minister’s wife, Laureen Harper.

The PMO wouldn’t say which publicly-traded securities Mrs. Harper owned through her Raymond James investment account and, when she liquidated the portfolio sometime in the summer, wouldn’t explain why or what was sold off.

(To highlight this black hole of transparency, I published the sad details of my own stock portfolio on my blog and dared cabinet-level spouses to do the same. So far… crickets.)

Now Public Works Minister Rona Ambrose has added a spouse or spousal equivalent with considerable professional interface in the investment industry.  Ambrose recently updated her MP’s conflict-of-interest disclosure to account for a new spouse/common-law partner.

Although he is not named in the document, the disclosure lists his assets and corporate affiliations that, when triangulated, point to J.P. Veitch, an investment guru and former rodeo bull rider:

    Spouse’s/Common-Law Partner’s assets:
    Promissory note owed by an individual; RRSP composed of publicly traded securities and a nominal interest in a private corporation.
    Spouse’s/Common-Law Partner’s source of income: Employment income received in the past and next 12 months from Rough Stock Capital Corporation; Stock options from Stifel Nicolaus (Canada) exercised in last 12 months.
    Spouse’s/Common-Law Partner’s liabilities: Line of credit with Scotiabank; Line of credit with BMO.
    Spouse’s/Common-Law Partner’s investment in private corporations: Sole ownership of Rough Stock Capital Corporation which holds a nominal interest in private corporations.
    Spouse’s/Common-Law Partner’s activities: Advisory Board Director of Salida Wealth Preservation Fund; Member of the Board of Directors of the Canadian Professional Rodeo Hall of Fame; Member of the Board of Directors of the Canadian Rodeo Historical Society.

Veitch and Ambrose were pictured together in the Citizen’s Around Town party photos in February after an apperance at the FurBall fund-raiser for the Ottawa Humane Society.

Although the conflict-of-interest disclosure was updated only in February, the pair appear to have been an item for several years. Both brought their respective mothers to a private reception in Calgary for visting Royals Will and Kate in July 2011, and he was listed as her parenthetical partner in an obituary for her grand-mother later that year.

As her disclosure notes, Veitch is an advisor to Salida Wealth Preservation Fund, a conservative investment vehicle. From its circular, his impressive bio:

    J.P. Veitch has over 19 years industry experience in Institutional Equity and Retail Sales and is licensed in both Canada and the U.S. Mr. Veitch began his career at Peters & Co. Ltd. in 1992 where he spent over 9 years with their institutional sales desk. In 2003 he joined JF Mackie Ltd. and later moved to Orion Securities Ltd. In 2006 he joined Westwind Partners as Managing Director, Institutional Sales, which later became Stifel Nicolaus Canada. Mr. Veitch is a strong supporter of charitable causes and has held several directorships including the Board of Directors of the Canadian Pro Rodeo Hall of Fame, the Scott Seaman Memorial Foundation, and the Gary Roberts Children’s Foundation. In 2010, Mr. Veitch visited the Canadian Armed Forces in Afghanistan and is now a strong supporter and mentor to young soldiers from the Calgary Highlanders and Edmonton’s Princess Patricia Canadian Light Infantry. In 2005 Mr. Veitch was awarded the Alberta Commemorative Lieutenant Governor Community Service Medal.

Original Article
Source: blogs.ottawacitizen.com
Author: Glen McGregor