Pursuant to Standing Order 45, the House proceeded to the taking of the deferred recorded division on the motion of Mr. Cullen (Skeena—Bulkley Valley), seconded by Mr. Caron (Rimouski-Neigette—Témiscouata—Les Basques), — That, given the Minister of Finance:
(a) after being elected to Parliament in 2015, led Canadians to believe that he had placed his shares in Morneau Shepell into a blind trust, while never having done so;
(b) used a loophole in the Conflict of Interest Act to place his shares in a private numbered company instead of divesting them or placing them in a blind trust;
(c) on October 19, 2016, sponsored Bill C-27, An Act to amend the Pension Benefits Standards Act, 1985, a bill that would reasonably be expected to profit Morneau Shepell and the Minister of Finance in light of his continued ownership of shares in Morneau Shepell through a company he controls;
(d) was and remains in charge of regulating the pension industry in which he has had a personal economic interest; and
(e) has failed to live up to the ethical standards set forth by the Prime Minister in his mandate letter to the Minister;
the House call on the Minister of Finance to apologize to the House and to Canadians for breaking their trust, and the House call on the government to immediately close the loopholes in the Conflict of Interest Act as recommended by the Conflict of Interest and Ethics Commissioner, in order to prevent a Minister of the Crown from personally benefiting from their position or creating the perception thereof.
The question was put on the motion and it was negatived on the following division:
YEAS: 131, NAYS: 163