On Wednesday, Conservative Opposition Leader Andrew Scheer intoned gravely that he was calling on Finance Minister Bill Morneau to resign. If Mr. Scheer was trying to invoke a more noble era, when a finance minister who had lost the confidence of the Opposition Leader would immediately resign, he failed badly at it. Mr. Morneau should stay where he is.
Mr. Scheer's reasoning is half-baked. He is accusing Mr. Morneau of insider trading based on the fact that the Minister sold a portion of his shares in his family company, Morneau Shepell, a week before he announced a tax hike on high-income earners. The tax announcement caused the market to fall sharply, taking Morneau Shepell stock with it.
This is not insider trading. The tax announcement on Dec. 7, 2015, had been long anticipated and was being much discussed in the news. Everyone knew it was coming – the Liberals had made it the centrepiece of their campaign and promised to implement it as one of their first acts after Parliament resumed on Dec. 3.
It is simply false to argue that Mr. Morneau took advantage of inside knowledge to game the market. Anyone could have made the same move based on the same timing; some probably did.
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