Many Canadians, including residents of MP Charlie Angus' northern Ontario riding, are aware of the uproar that has surrounded U.S. President Donald Trump's finances, his refusal to release copies of his tax returns, and the fact that he did, begrudgingly perhaps, comply with the 1978 Ethics in Government Act, and file financial disclosure forms. Some might be aware that the Huffington Post has compared Angus to U.S Senator from Vermont Bernie Sanders, and his run for NDP leadership. According to Open Secrets, "Members of Congress, candidates for federal office, senior congressional staff, nominees for executive branch positions, Cabinet members, the president and vice president and Supreme Court justices," are required to file financial disclosure in the United States.
Surely, a reasonable adult might conclude, a Canadian member of Parliament like Charlie Angus must have to make similar disclosure before running for Parliament, or almost certainly, before taking office. This leads to a truth, that, again, any reasonable adult would find reprehensible: Canadian politicians are not required to provide disclosure as to the stocks, bonds, and other investments they own. A group of Canadian politicians could buy stock in a company, and then work to ensure the company received government contracts. Stopping U.S. politicians from doing exactly this is the reason U.S. legislation exists. The history of such behavior by politicians pre-dates even the 1867 Crédit Mobilier scandal, where politicians got rich funding a railroad to nowhere.
Worth nothing is that, eventually, the railway did pay off, but not before hundreds of politicians and businessmen got rich fleecing the American public.
No financial disclosure for Canadian MPs
Readers wishing to examine Bernie Sanders' financial disclosure with Open Secrets can see that the senator owns a hodgepodge of small positions in mutual funds.
Readers can also view Donald Trump's lengthy financial disclosure from when he first announced his candidacy, where he owned stocks, mutual funds, and a stunning number of limited-partnerships. However, readers interested in viewing Canadian MP Charlie Angus' stock and other investment holdings are out of luck. And this is where things get really interesting, if not down right bizarre.
When it comes to penny stocks, Canada has a bad reputation internationally. A forerunner to the current TSX Venture Exchange, the Vancouver Stock Exchange, was called the "scam capital of the world." A report to Minister of Public Safety Ralph Goodale expounding on the subject is available at StephenSinclairWriting.com. It has been noted that those who exhibit similar, comparable behavior in the United States, Jordan Belfort standing out as prime example, wind up facing harsh criminal prosecution, and jail time.
Who profits from flow-through shares?
How is it, any reasonable Canadian adult might ask, that Charlie Angus could say that he has "consistently led on the issue of flow-through shares," but not be required, as Bernie Sanders and Donald Trump are, to disclose whether or not he owns any of those very shares, some of which Blasting News has described as being suitable for boiler-room inventories.
Examples include the speck of RT Minerals Speculation (TSXV: RTM) and Opawica Explorations Inspeculation (TSXV: OPW).
Given this revelation, will Charlie Angus make public all of his investment dealings, over the course of his political career? Will all members of Parliament? This underlines the reason why Charlie Angus, and to be fair, no Canadian MP, is comparable to Bernie Sanders, or even Donald Trump. It also seems to paints a picture of a culture driven by rampant greed, even by someone who has the propensity for good, calling indigenous communities a "vital part of Canada’s past, present and future." For all his seeming positive rhetoric, the Indigenous and Northern Affairs critic has big shoes to fill, should he wish to rightfully be compared to the senator from Vermont.
