Tories target Liberals’ personal finances
I HAVE BEEN CONSISTENT IN MY DESIRE TO NOT BE PERCEIVED AS ... BREAKING ANY RULES.
With the furor over the government’s proposed tax changes dominating debate in Ottawa, the Conservatives have started going after the personal finances of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and other cabinet ministers, arguing it shows hypocrisy.
The Conservatives have gone all-in on attacking the tax changes since Parliament returned from its summer break on Monday, devoting nearly every question during the daily House of Commons question period to it.
“While answering media questions yesterday, the prime minister described his ‘family fortune,’ which is held in at least three separate numbered companies,” Conservative Leader Andrew Scheer said on Wednesday.
“He confirmed that he will not be affected by the tax changes he claims are intended to make wealthy Canadians pay more,” Scheer asked. “How is that fair?”
Reports in Le Journal de Montréal and The Globe and Mail have pointed out that Trudeau would have had access to certain tax advantages because his father’s assets were kept in a testamentary trust starting in 2000.
Trudeau was not in Parliament on Wednesday, as he was on a trip to New York City. But he had taken questions on it during a Tuesday news conference, and had declined to get into detail about his own past use of tax-reduction strategies.
“When I became leader of the third party (in 2013), I made a commitment to do something that is normally only asked of ministers and prime ministers, which is to put my assets and my holdings in a blind trust,” he said.
“I have been entirely consistent in my desire to not be perceived as bending or breaking any rules. Obviously, we follow all the rules, and I’m assured that the folks who are managing my personal finances are following all the rules.”
The proposal put forward by the government would largely not affect trusts, although an income-splitting strategy once available through trusts was already restricted in 2014 by the previous Conservative government. Instead, the proposed changes aim to prevent private corporations from being used to save on personal income taxes, which Trudeau argues gives high-income earners access to tax breaks that aren’t available to others.
Trudeau has said he’s never personally used any of the private corporation tax-sheltering strategies the government is planning to restrict.
The Conservatives also repeatedly went after Finance Minister Bill Morneau’s wealth on Wednesday, given his past as the head of Morneau Shepell, a pension management firm started by his father. Morneau stepped down from that position after being elected in 2015, and a conflict-of-interest shield keeps him from taking part in decisions that would affect the company. Postmedia reported in October 2015 that Morneau held at least $30 million in shares of the firm.
Numerous Conservative MPs used question period to highlight stories from small business owners, and attacked Morneau for not focusing on “the millionaire owners of Morneau Shepell.”
When Morneau first announced the proposed tax changes on July 18, he did acknowledge that his own finances were likely to take a hit if the changes go through. Morneau’s disclosure on the ethics public registry shows an ownership stake in six private corporations.
Also on Wednesday, Conservative MP Peter Kent asked Indigenous Services Minister Jane Philpott about her former private corporation, which she set up during her previous job as a physician. He asked whether she had any part in the taxchange deliberations.
“I was not involved in the discussions related to the tax changes,” she said. “I did have a medical professional corporation, and it was closed down. I made that decision on the day that I was elected when I knew that I would not be practising for some time to come.”