Trudeau defends Morneau against opposition

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is standing by his embattled finance minister as he faces opposition accusations of gross conflict of interest for failing to place his personal assets in a blind trust after being appointed to cabinet almost two years ago.

It was a heated question period Wednesday as Trudeau returned to the House of Commons for the first time since a furor erupted over news that Bill Morneau still owns an estimated $40 million in shares in Morneau Shepell, the pension management and human resources firm founded by his father.

Morneau holds the shares through two private companies in which he is the sole owner.

Trudeau put his own personal investments into a blind trust in 2013 after becoming Liberal leader, proclaiming that he’d set “the gold standard” for ethical conduct.

The day he was appointed to cabinet in 2015, Morneau told reporters he expected to do the same with his holdings. This week it came to light he had not. The Conservatives and NDP alike say there is an enormous conflict created by a finance minister regulating an industry that includes a company in which he owns some $40 million in shares.

“The prime minister can’t defend this conflict of interest,” said Conservative Leader Andrew Scheer.

Not to mention, said Scheer, the government has spent the summer suggesting pizza shop owners and mechanics were tax cheats trying to use their companies to hide assets and pay less tax, and it turns out the finance minister was doing the same thing.

He quipped that while Trudeau claims to be governing for the “middle class and those working hard to join it” what he’s really doing is “protecting wealthy millionaires and those trying to hide it.”

Trudeau accused Scheer and company of “gutter politics” and said they were “making wild accusations” because they had nothing of substance to say about changes announced this week to the government’s controversial small business tax reform proposals.

However, the prime minister refused to say when he found out Morneau’s assets weren’t in a blind trust. He repeatedly said Morneau followed the advice of ethics commissioner Mary Dawson.