OTTAWA—Finance Minister Bill Morneau has committed to sell off all his shares in his former company and says he will place his assets in a blind trust to go “above and beyond” Parliament’s ethics rules to avoid any conflict of interest. The declaration comes after days of accusations from Conservatives and New Democrats that he stood to potentially profit from his government’s pension reform bill, which could create business for his family company Morneau Shepell. He was also blasted for not placing his assets in a blind trust, like Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has done with his personal wealth, and his belated disclosure of a French company that he co-owns with his wife. “I need to do more,” Morneau told reporters in Ottawa Thursday afternoon. “This is a way to ensure Canadians, with the highest level of confidence, that there are no conflicts of interest.”Morneau also repeated what he said during an earlier news conference Thursday: that he feels the controversy about his personal wealth has been a “distraction” when he is trying to roll out changes to controversial tax proposals.Morneau maintained that he hasn’t broken any rules by not having a blind trust, but outlined three steps he will take nonetheless. He said that he will place his assets in a blind trust. He will also sell off his and his family’s assets in the company founded by his father in 1966, Morneau Shepell. After his office declined repeatedly to say how many shares Morneau has in that company, the finance minister revealed that he has “about a million” shares that he will now sell. As of Thursday afternoon, Morneau Shepell shares were selling for roughly $21 each on the Toronto Stock Exchange. According to regulatory filings for corporate insider, Morneau had more than 2 million Morneau Shepell shares when he resigned from the company after the 2015 election. The third step he committed to taking was to ...
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