Thursday, September 9, 2010

"I think you will be happier very soon ... this week probably" - Scott Brison

The Liberal Party has a new Finance critic, as John McCallum (who can't remember what kind of car he drives) has been reassigned to Transport critic. If the irony of McCallum in Transport wasn't too much already, Ignatieff replaced him with former Public Works Minister Scott Brison; who famously e-mailed a contact at the Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce the day before newly appointed deputy leader (then Finance Minister) Ralph Goodale was set to announce new income trust/dividend policy "I think you will be happier very soon ... this week probably". The day after the e-mail was sent, the CBC reports "there are big jumps in trading activity in a number of income trusts and dividend-paying stocks, and prices move higher."

Scotty insists that he was commenting on the state of the market in general, not tipping his friends in the banking sector about an upcoming policy announcement by a fellow cabinet member.  The resulting flurry in stock market activity prior to the announcement prompted an investigation by the RCMP.

As the CBC reported:


Mar. 7, 2006:


Former public works minister Scott Brison responds to an article published in the Globe and Mail about the RCMP investigation. The article reveals that on Nov. 22, 2005, one day before Ralph Goodale revealed the new policy on income trust and dividends, Brison sent an e-mail to an acquaintance at the Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce. In that e-mail Brison wrote, "I think you will be happier very soon ... this week probably." Brison said the e-mail contained no specifics about what Goodale would announce because Brison didn't know the details. He said the e-mail was a general response to the bank employee's complaints about the state of the stock market.


Brison says he discussed the e-mail with the RCMP on Jan. 18, 2006. He denies that he leaked anything.


Nov. 22, 2005:


Goodale tells reporters he may provide some direction on the income trust issue before the review period ends.


Nov. 23, 2005:


There are big jumps in trading activity in a number of income trusts and dividend-paying stocks, and prices move higher. By the close of trading at 4 p.m., rumours are widely circulating that some kind of trust announcement is imminent. Shortly after 5 p.m., the government releases the details: no new taxes on income trusts and more favourable tax treatment for stock dividends. Goodale tells a subsequent news conference the income trust review has ended.


Nov. 24, 2005:


With the new policy officially out, investors jump into trusts and dividend-paying blue chip stocks. The TSX gains 162 points and closes at a five-year high. The income trust sector gains 4.3 per cent that day; BCE climbs 6.5 per cent.


Nov. 25, 2005:


Some market watchers, citing the trading patterns on Nov. 23, publicly wonder if the details of the income trust announcement leaked out. Goodale denies any information slipped out early. "There was no leak," he says.

4 comments:

  1. I remember some civil servant inside the government was the scape goat.

    Serge Nadeau, the general director of analysis, tax policy branch, was charged Thursday, the RCMP said in a statement.

    Read more: http://www.cbc.ca/canada/story/2007/02/15/income-trust.html#ixzz0z2dDcTXR

    Hill Times cached copy of the trial.

    his week, more than three years after he was charged, the 53-year-old Nadeau pleaded guilty in Superior Court in Ottawa.

    Justice Lynn Ratushny fined him $14,000 — double his profit from his insider transaction — and gave him a conditional sentence of 10 months. She also ordered him to do 100 hours of community service and prohibited him from trading securities, other than mutual funds, for 10 months.


    “This whole case of Serge Nadeau had nothing to do with the income trust leak case,” Schachter said. But during the RCMP’s 14-month investigation, he said, it “came across certain evidence that implicated Mr. Nadeau in this isolated incident.”

    Read more: http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:5Sc57kO9ZI0J:www.ottawacitizen.com/business/bureaucrat%2Bpleads%2Bguilty%2Bbreach%2Btrust/2986312/story.html+Serge+Nadeau,+the+general+director+of+analysis&cd=10&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=ca&client=firefox-a#ixzz0z2etDP7V
    http://www.cbc.ca/canada/story/2007/02/15/income-trust.html

    He was working at the University of Ottawa according to the report.

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  2. The fact remains that Brison will be a far better critic for finance than the buffoon named McCallum. However, Flaherty will have no trouble countering Brison because Brison will not focus on substance but will be trying for the quick sound bite. Flaherty has shown he can counter the best of what the Libs have to offer.

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  3. Just another example of how we are held to a much higher standard than the Libs. It was the same thing when Brison crossed the floor after much behind-the-scenes negotiating with Martin, and eventually ending up with Industry Minister.

    Did the media question if there was a quid-pro-quo, like they did with the taped conversation between Harper and that private eye, re Cadman ? No.

    The media bought into the Liberal spin that Brison was unwanted by the homophobic CPC, or some such drivel. Just like the media believed Belinda when she charged Harper with being anti-woman. No quid-pro-quo there, no siree. It's all because of that misogynist Harper that I'm keeping Martin's shaky minority gov't alive. And then there's the kid gloves treatment from Elections Canada, over repayment of leadership debts from 2005 ! Compare that to their raiding of CPC headquarters, scooping up documents over the in-and-out "scandal".

    It's all a friggin joke.

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  4. Everytime it is reported on a BT blog quoting Scott Brison saying something related to his new portfolio, what he says should be preceded by, "I think you will be happier very soon, this week probably", followed by the text of what he is saying.

    For example, "I think you will be happier very soon, this week probably". “We have absolutely no intention of engineering our own defeat to force an election that Canadians don't want. Canadians want, and Canadians deserve an answer, from Justice John Gomery before an election is called.”

    ReplyDelete