Roundup: Share sales and the sputtering outrage cycle

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As the full-blown moral panic into what financial assets cabinet ministers own continues, we see the news that Bill Morneau has indeed sold off his shares in Morneau Shepell, for what it’s worth. Not that it will stop any of the chatter at this point – the outrage cycle continues to exhaust itself, and until some new outrage crops up, we’ll continue hearing about this as it sputters and runs on fumes.

And hey, why not find out what every other cabinet minister owns? The Star did, and I’m not really sure how edifying this whole exercise was in the end. Never mind that once again we’re reaching the point of absurdity with all of this. Are there problems with the ethics and conflict of interest legislation? Probably. Were loopholes identified previously? Yup. Did MPs do anything about it then? Nope. Do they really have an interest in closing any of them now? Probably not (and no, the NDP motion that the government voted down was not indicative of anything because it also contained a bunch of other stuff, as these things so often do, that was designed to embarrass Morneau and the government had they voted for it. Because in politics, we can’t have nice things). And once you add in all of the tall poppy nonsense, we’re left with the same tiresome moralizing that we’re always left with when it comes to “perceived” conflicts that aren’t actually there but which were invented out of whole cloth with the convenient lining up of “facts” that don’t pass the bullshit filter. And then we complain that nobody wants to get involved in politics.

https://twitter.com/cfhorgan/status/925393091086786560

Meanwhile, the Liberals are pointing out that Andrew Scheer has assets in Real Estate Limited Partnerships that are really only for the wealthy. Predictably, the Conservatives cite that he’s worth only a fraction of Morneau, and then cries of hypocrisy flew from both sides, and the outrage cycle continues to chug along.

https://twitter.com/cfhorgan/status/925377206351564800

Good reads:

  • Scheer was also scheduled to give a Canadian Club talk that was to be sponsored by Morneau Shepell. Oops. That sponsorship has since been pulled.
  • Conservatives are also trying to downplay that Harper memo to his clients about NAFTA, insisting it doesn’t change their mode of cooperation in Parliament.
  • The government unveiled a $36.4 million-over-five-years programme to help educate people about cannabis, particularly geared to youth and stoned driving.
  • Tech companies like Google and Amazon are lobbying the government, which is trying to attack that kind of investment to Canada? OH NOES!
  • The Correctional Investigator issued a report that says that insufficient and poor-quality food is helping to drive the black market inside prisons.
  • The government will be matching funds given to registered charities helping with the Rohingya crisis in Myanmar.
  • The government has introduced legislation to make it illegal to abandon a vessel in Canadian waters. It doesn’t look like it will have any retroactive effect, however.
  • The Canadian-born son of two Russian spies wants the Supreme Court to deny leave to appeal of the Federal Court of Appeal decision restoring his citizenship.
  • Public sector unions want damages for the fact that the Phoenix pay system wasn’t able to implement the new collective agreements on time.
  • Jagmeet Singh says he’d be open to running for a seat if the right one opened up. I’m sure he’ll keep saying that for the next two years.
  • Over in Alberta, Brian Jean insists he didn’t want a critic portfolio in the new Jason Kenney-led UCP. I’m cynical enough to be suspicious that it was totally his choice.
  • Susan Delacourt wonders if Jason Kenney isn’t setting up to become Trudeau’s biggest rival in the coming years.
  • Martin Patriquin lays out the strange and fantastical tale of Guy Ouellette in Quebec, and why he feels he was arrested on what he calls trumped-up charges.
  • My column looks at the state of the Senate as the big committee reset happens today, and the Independent Senators Group starts to take over some chairs.

Odds and ends: