Tory spouses hold investments unencumbered by blind trusts
OTTAWA — The spouses of Prime Minister Stephen Harper and seven other Conservative cabinet ministers are holding portfolios of publicly traded securities without having to put the assets into blind trusts.
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 Postmedia News 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 said 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,” spokesperson Jocelyne Brisebois said in an email.
Dawson’s office said she has not conducted any investigations related to spou- sal assets and was vague about whether she received itemized lists of stock holdings, saying that public office holders are required to make “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,” director of communications Andrew MacDougall said. 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,” Flaherty’s spokesman, Chisholm Pothier, said.
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.