Manitoba’s Official Opposition is demanding transparency about Premier Heather Stefanson’s participation in a fund for affluent investors, despite the fact there are no laws requiring provincial politicians to disclose which companies they invest in.
The NDP noted that Stefanson is a client of the capital management company Manitou Investment Management Ltd., which she disclosed in her conflict of interest declaration. The firm said in a conference call it boosted client portfolios by a quarter billion dollars in 2021.
The Portfolio Management Association of Canada says the firm requires a minimum $5 million investment, but the premier’s office says “the minimum is a guideline” and Stefanson invested “nowhere near that amount.”
During question period at the legislature on Thursday, NDP finance critic Adrien Sala argued Stefanson, as the highest office-holder in the province, should be forthcoming about investments in an exclusive fund that could be worth millions of dollars. He alleged the premier invested at least $5 million into the fund.
“The people of Manitoba expect their leaders to be transparent and open, and when it comes to millions of dollars of investments by the premier, the expectations are rightly even higher,” Sala said.
In speaking with reporters, Sala said transparency from the premier is particularly important given that a judge recently ruled she violated conflict of interest rules by failing to promptly disclose property sales worth $31 million.
He raised the possibility Stefanson could have invested in companies that might put her in conflict with Manitoba’s interests, but offered no proof she has done so.
Sala, however, didn’t call for stricter transparency laws for Manitoba’s MLAs, nor would he commit to seeing NDP caucus members disclosing which companies they invest in.
Some of their MLAs are financially well-off too, including leader Wab Kinew, who wasn’t eligible for the inflationary relief cheque issued this year by the government for households with a net income less than $175,000.
“Not having done a survey of my colleagues, I can say as the Manitoba NDP we do not have colleagues that have, like the premier, these kinds of obscene amounts of money to throw around,” Sala said.
Asked what he considers “obscene,” Sala said “an obscene amount of money is when you forget about $31 million,” referring to the conflict of interest violation that led to last month’s Court of King’s Bench ruling against the premier. The judge wrote in a written decision she couldn’t penalize Stefanson because she had made an unintended mistake.
Stefanson’s office slammed the NDP’s claims as “incorrect and misleading.”
“What is true is Wab Kinew is a millionaire and he doesn’t want Manitobans to know,” the premier’s spokesperson alleged.
SOURCE: CBC