Conservative Leader Andrew Scheer is formally calling for the resignation of Finance Minister Bill Morneau, saying that Prime Minister Justin Trudeau should force him out if he refuses to leave of his own volition.
Scheer, who until now had avoided calling for Morneau to step down, made a statement outside the House of Commons shortly before Question Period on Wednesday.
“After weeks of the finance minister demonstrating outrageous disrespect towards Canadians and after careful consideration, in my capacity as Leader of the Opposition I am officially calling on Bill Morneau to resign,” Scheer said.
“If he won’t step down, it’s Justin Trudeau’s responsibility to remove Bill Morneau from his post.”
Trudeau is not wavering, however.
“I have full confidence in the minister of finance,” Trudeau said Wednesday during Question Period, highlighting some of the policy decisions Morneau has made since taking office.
Morneau’s personal finances and how they may or may not have affected his decisions as a member of the federal cabinet have been the subject of intense scrutiny by the Opposition in recent weeks.
It began with the revelation that Morneau had not placed his remaining shares in his family firm, Morneau Shepell, in a blind trust – instead placing them in a corporate structure involving two numbered companies.
The move was legal, and approved by federal Conflict of Interest and Ethics Commissioner Mary Dawson, but Morneau eventually bowed to pressure and did place the shares in a blind trust before selling them off.
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Then, earlier this week, the Conservatives began questioning the finance minister over a previous sale of another set of Morneau Shepell shares, which occurred just after he was elected in 2015.
The Tories have argued that Morneau purposely sold the shares off before the government tabled legislation that increased taxes on Canada’s wealthiest residents, thus avoiding a subsequent dip in Morneau Shepell’s stock price.
Morneau says the Opposition simply doesn’t understand how the stock market works, and has threatened to take the Conservatives to court if they defame him by suggesting he broke the law.
He repeated that on Wednesday in the House of Commons.
“If the members opposite have something they want to say, they should say it here, say it now clearly, and in the foyer,” Morneau said.
Both Morneau and Trudeau have maintained that the Conservatives refuse to directly accuse Morneau of anything criminal outside the House, because they would not be shielded from retaliatory legal action. Trudeau called it a “bluff” on Wednesday.
Morneau has acknowledged he did sell the shares in 2015, but has maintained there was nothing questionable about that sale.
“As has been reported in the press, when I came into office I sold some shares,” he said in Question Period. “Nobody knows about the stock market in advance.”
But the saga doesn’t end there. Morneau is also under investigation by Dawson’s office for a possible conflict of interest linked to Bill C-27.
The proposed legislation, tabled by Morneau, affects pensions and could potentially benefit Morneau Shepell. Adding to the mess is the fact that Morneau has already been fined $200 by Dawson for failing to disclose a private corporation in France – something he said was an administrative error.
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