Morneau sold 680,000 shares before tax announcement?

[Gone_Fishin]

Finance Minister Bill Morneau silent on stock sell-off before tax changes

Finance Minister Bill Morneau is refusing to say whether he sold millions of dollars worth of company stock days before introducing tax changes that may have caused share prices to drop


OTTAWA—Finance Minister Bill Morneau is refusing to say whether he sold millions of dollars worth of company stock days before introducing tax changes that may have caused share prices to drop.

Conservative MP Pierre Poilievre went after Morneau in question period on Monday, demanding to know whether the finance minister was behind the sale of $10.2-million worth of shares in Morneau Sheppell, the company he headed before he was elected a Toronto MP in 2015.

The Nov. 30, 2015 sale came a week before the Liberal government formally introduced changes to tax rates — dropping the income tax rate for middle-class Canadians while it boosting it on high-income earners.

Those rates were to take effect on Jan. 1, 2016, prompting financial advisers to advise high-income earners to realize capital gains in the last weeks of 2015 to avoid the coming higher tax rates.

“Did the minister sell his shares in Morneau Shepell in the amount of $10 million exactly one week before he tabled in the House of Commons market-moving tax changes?” Poilievre said.

The 680,000 shares were sold for $15 apiece. By Dec. 14, a week after the tax rate announcement, they had dropped to $13.96.

“Somebody knew enough to sell $10 million of Morneau Shepell shares before that drop could occur, saving him half a million dollars,” Poilievre said.

https://www.thestar.com/news/canada/201 ... anges.html

[Rwede]

Oh Uncle Bill, I wonder what will happen to you in the general inmate population? It might not be a good place for a spoiled rich boy to be.

The disgusting corruption sanctioned by the TrudeauLiberals is boiling over. Time to drain the canal.

[Leifer]

It seems Trudeau is going to hang on to Morneau all the way down.
Brutal.
Even if Morneau somehow wiggles out of this latest mess....the optics of this whole thing are just brutal.

[Veovis]

It seems Trudeau is going to hang on to Morneau all the way down.
Brutal.
Even if Morneau somehow wiggles out of this latest mess....the optics of this whole thing are just brutal.

Even if we determine he sold zero shares, we need to know who did. With how much we are finding about the finance minister he should have long since stepped down. Though legally avoiding millions n taxes while accusing doctors and small businessmen of being crooked while possibly moving inside information is an amazing affront to the people of Canada.

[Rwede]

Even if we determine he sold zero shares, we need to know who did. With how much we are finding about the finance minister he should have long since stepped down. Though legally avoiding millions n taxes while accusing doctors and small businessmen of being crooked while possibly moving inside information is an amazing affront to the people of Canada.

Remember the huge bump up in values of income trusts the day before Liberal Ralph Goodale announced proposed tax changes, 2005 IIRC?

On November 23, Finance Minister Ralph Goodale announces a new policy outlining how his department plans to tax distributions from income trusts and how it will tax dividends. Prior to that point, income trusts enjoyed a more favourable tax regime. Goodale had earlier signalled that he might be inclined to raise the taxes paid by income taxes. That hint caused a broad sell-off earlier this year of shares of income trust corporations.

But on Nov. 23, Goodale announced that, rather than raise taxes on income trusts, he would eliminate the disparity between income trust and dividend taxes by lowering the effective tax rate on dividends. His announcement was made at 6 pm while stock markets were closed. But in the last couple of hours of trading that day, there was heavy activity of income trust issues — many more millions of shares traded hands than on an average day and the value of the shares was driven up.

This certainly wouldn't be the first time that friends and family got the heads up on stock markets from the Liberal Party of Canada.

[Queen K]

Disgusting! Past Due Date is Past Due.

[Jonrox]

Legal or not, this reflects badly on Morneau and in turn PM Trudeau. I'm a Trudeau fan, but this wreaks. He needs to hold his people to a higher standard than this.

[Rwede]

Legal or not, this reflects badly on Morneau and in turn PM Trudeau. I'm a Trudeau fan, but this wreaks. He needs to hold his people to a higher standard than this.

Just watched him yelling and screaming in Parliament defending everything Moneybags Morneau has done.

Trudeau, being the one who can effect change, is even more culpable that Moneybags.

My prognostication is that Trudeau has been doing the same thing as Morneau, profiting off the legislation they are bringing in. With the focus on Morneau's malfeasance, Trudeau hasn't been investigated as closely. It's to Trudeau's financial advantage to have Bill take the heat.

[Rwede]

Oh, it's bad. Very, very bad.

Not only is Moneybags Jr in deep kaka, now we see his father, Moneybags Sr, dumped 200,000 MSI shares just a few days before Junior made a policy announcement that caused the shares to drop.



November 30, 2017 10:23 am Updated: November 30, 2017 1:21 pm

Bill Morneau’s father sold 200K shares in family company days before tax changes announced

By David Akin
Chief Political Correspondent Global News


Conservative MP Pierre Poilievre cited a story by Global News Thursday alleging Finance Minister Bill Morneau’s father sold shares in family company days before a capital gains tax boost was announced.

As Finance Minister Bill Morneau is pressed in the House of Commons for details on the circumstances of the sale of shares he held in his family business, Morneau Shepell Inc., Global News has analyzed insider trading reports of the company and discovered that Morneau’s father sold a significant number of shares days before his son announced a major tax policy change.

Regulatory filings show that William F. Morneau Sr. sold 100,000 shares of Morneau Sheppell Inc. (MSI) at a price of $15.20 per share on Nov. 23, 2015, and sold another 100,000 shares on Dec 3, 2015, at a price of $15 a share.

On Dec. 7, 2015, Morneau, the finance minister, tabled documents in the House of Commons which announced his government’s intention to change tax rules that would increase taxes on wealthy Canadians as of Jan. 1. 2016.

According to historical share price data published by Yahoo Finance, MSI shares dropped from $14.90 a share on market open of the morning of Dec. 7 to $14.09 a week later, on the morning of the Dec. 14. That represents a drop in value of just over 5.4 per cent.

Morneau has said — as recently as Wednesday in the House of Commons — that he sold “some shares” in MSI after the 2015 general election, though he has not confirmed details of that sale, such as the date it took place. The National Post, though, has reported that Morneau sold 680,000 shares of MSI on Nov 30.

https://globalnews.ca/news/3889576/bill ... gains-tax/

[Queen K]

The stench of insider trading quite often leads to fines and jail, no?

[maryjane48]

It isnt insider trading though queen .this is much ado about nothing .

[Jflem1983]

Cant believe this guy is the finance minister

[The Green Barbarian]

.this is much ado about nothing .

Because it is a Liberal?

[Queen K]

It isnt insider trading though queen .this is much ado about nothing .

How do you mean it isn't insider trading? If it walks like a duck and quacks like a duck....MJ, you are supporting this because it's the Liberal Party are you?

[The Green Barbarian]

.MJ, you are supporting this because it's the Liberal Party are you?

Exactly Khalees...er Queen K. Exactly.