Prime Minister Mark Carney and other Canadian prime ministers should be required to divest their investment portfolios when they assume office, not just put them in a blind trust, the House of Commons ethics committee recommends in a new report.
In its report made public Thursday morning, the committee said putting assets in a blind trust isn’t good enough, recommending instead “that the Government of Canada amend the Conflict of Interest Act that, for the application of subsection 27(1) the prime minister, as a reporting public office holder, is fully divested from their controlled assets through sale, since placement in a blind trust does not constitute true divestment.”
The committee also wants the law amended to require public disclosure of “high-level holdings categories placed in a blind trust by reporting public office holders (sector/asset class, and whether the holdings are Canadian-market concentrated),” a recommendation that could shed new light on the financial interests of a number of top officials and cabinet ministers.
I agree with what you say here, but my original question was why he should be forced to sacrifice the investments he had before he was in power - and why putting them in a blind trust is insufficient to keep him from profiting from his decisions as PM.
Oh, I didn’t mean he should give up the value or anything. The point about capital gains tax is somewhat fair as well, but I think there could be ways around that. I’m not a finance expert, but maybe the capitals gains tax could be cancelled and his investments moved to a broad canadian index fund or something.
The problem with a blind trust (as I understand it) is that the existing investments aren’t going to be changed immediately or even soon, so he still could profit via policy decisions based on what he already had invested.