Insider Trading

[scribblet]

Havn't seen anything on this posted yet so have a read of Warren Kinsella. Geez, poor old Martha was jailed just for lying about it.

http://www.warrenkinsella.com/musings.htm

There can't be much doubt, now, that Ralph Goodale's office disclosed confidential information - and that, in the hands of unscrupulous investors, millions of dollars could be made with that kind of information before the markets closed on November 23, 2005.

And millions were, in fact, made. This says it all: a massive spike in trading activity, hours before Goodale performed his policy flip-flop.

The NDP and the Tories are right: Ralph Goodale should call in the police, now, if he really wants to demonstrate that he and his staff did nothing wrong.

If he won't, this election just got its first, real scandal.

[hiti]

Hang 'em high. Guilty until proven innocent.

Announcing to the media that you are going to make an announcement is scandulous.

[shoop]

Wow,

You really don't get it. Do you? Telling the media in advance allows people with inside knowledge to take advantage of the policy changes before it hits "the street". This is illegal for a very good reason. If people lose confidence in the markets the underpinings of our economic system would be shaken. High interest, high unemployment, low dollar, low standard of living....

Hang 'em high. Guilty until proven innocent.

Announcing to the media that you are going to make an announcement is scandulous. 

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[Riverwind]

You really don't get it. Do you? Telling the media in advance allows people with inside knowledge to take advantage of the policy changes before it hits "the street".

You don't get it do you: telling the media that an announcement will be made is standard practice. What they are not supposed to do is tell the media what that announcement is. The reason this situation has gotten so sticky is that anyone with half a brain could have made an educated case about the substance of the announcement once they knew the announcement was coming. So it may be possible to make the case that the finance department should have known better, however, I don't believe any rules were broken if all they did was announce the announcement.

[shoop]

The media should be told outside market hours. Indication is that was not the case in this instance.

You don't get it do you: telling the media that an announcement will be made is standard practice. What they are not supposed to do is tell the media what that announcement is. The reason this situation has gotten so sticky is that anyone with half a brain could have made an educated case about the substance of the announcement once they knew the announcement was coming. So it may be possible to make the case that the finance department should have known better, however, I don't believe any rules were broken if all they did was announce the announcement.

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[scribblet]

The media should be told outside market hours. Indication is that was not the case in this instance.

You don't get it do you: telling the media that an announcement will be made is standard practice. What they are not supposed to do is tell the media what that announcement is. The reason this situation has gotten so sticky is that anyone with half a brain could have made an educated case about the substance of the announcement once they knew the announcement was coming. So it may be possible to make the case that the finance department should have known better, however, I don't believe any rules were broken if all they did was announce the announcement.

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Interesting discussion here:

http://angrygwn.mu.nu/archives/142032.php

A new twist to the story that someone in Finance Minister Ralph Goodale's office called a senior investor at CARP, Canada's Association for the Fifty-Plus, to let him know that an announcement would be made later that day that income trusts would not be taxed.

CARP's William Gleberzon, an associate executive director, told CTV news, point blank, that he received a call from a "senior policy advisor", delivering the inside scoop.

But now CARP is denying any of it happened.

They are trying to blame Warren Kinsella, but as far as I can tell, Kinsella didn't do anything wrong, while CARP seems to be engaged in some serious misquoting of Warren's blog entries.

[Riverwind]

The media should be told outside market hours. Indication is that was not the case in this instance.

I am not sure that this actually is the rule, however, you make a fair point which means the OSC needs to investigate to determine if proper procedures regarding media notification were followed.

However, even if evidence shows the procedures were not followed you cannot automatically assume that it was a deliberate scam to allow well connected Liberals to profit. Seems to me the more likely explaination is incompetance: Goodale did a sudden about face and decided to annouce something immediately (probably because he needed to do it before an election call). In the rush to get things done some people screwed up.

[shoop]

That would be the OSC. The SEC regulates the American Securities industry.

Kinsella makes an interesting point of how donations from Bay Street are up so far this election. Very, very interesting stuff there...

I am not sure that this actually is the rule, however, you make a fair point which means the SEC needs to investigate to determine if proper procedures regarding media notification were followed.

However, even if evidence shows the procedures were not followed you cannot automatically assume that it was a deliberate scam to allow well connected Liberals to profit. Seems to me the more likely explaination is incompetance: Goodale did a sudden about face and decided to annouce something immediately (probably because he needed to do it before an election call). In the rush to get things done some people screwed up.

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[Kliege]

Another occurrence of the Liberal Party and their cronies getting caught with their hands in the till, and predictably, nothing will happen to them. They have no shame, no ethics, and have long since gotten into the mindset that they can do anything, no longer bothering to cover anything up, and will still get enough votes to keep them in power, even if it means paying off the political whores, the NDP.

RCMP investigate them? Hah! The big Zac will sit in his renovated office, wearing his government supplied riding boots and wait for orders from his Liberal masters. What about the government funds that went into a non-governmental account, eh Zac?

SOME Canadians will look down their noses from their moral high ground at the Americans, but this state of affairs would never have developed in the US. A good public airing would have nipped this merde in the bud.

This is typical of the on goings of the Liberal regime and of course Ontario like always will eat it up. The whole system in Canada is utterly corrupt. Where was the investigation into Alphonso Gagliano? What about what Zaccardelli said about organized crime infiltrating the parliamentary system? Where's that investigation? And we Canadians (the majority of us anyway) have the gall to call the Unites States corrupt?!?!? In fact with all the liberal scandals, involving BILLIONS of dollars, where are the investigations? Where are the punishments? I used to be proud to be Canadian. The fact that more Canadians are interested in whether gay folks can be officially "married" than are interested in whether our government is corrupt all the way to the top makes me sick. And yet the majority of us thumb our noses at the Americans. If you want any new idea to be shot down here, just say it's based on the American style and it gets shot down immediately. Health care, gun control, judicial reform... just name it. The arrogance of our people (again, the majority) compares to the arrogance of our government(s), and that isn't good.

Mad as hell? You're darned tootin' I am! I have recently come to see the sense in Quebec's wanting to leave the Canadian confederation, even though ironically a lot of the sleaze has originated in Quebec, albeit by the Liberal party. I hope the Liberals get a majority in the election, thereby hastening Quebec's departure, and thereafter the departure of the west. You don't have to be a weatherman to know which way the wind is blowing. Canada is a hollow shell, its center decayed by jiggery-pokery, probably past the point of no return. It is on life support. The honorable thing to do is go out with a bang, not a whimper.

[Riverwind]

You don't have to be a weatherman to know which way the wind is blowing. Canada is a hollow shell, its center decayed by jiggery-pokery, probably past the point of no return. It is on life support. The honorable thing to do is go out with a bang, not a whimper.

What an bunch of pathetic whining. Canada is not the Liberal party - it is a diverse country with many different viewpoints. The fact that we are now having an healthy election focused on the issues facing us in the future is a sign of this country's strength not its weakness. Things may get nasty later on but the parties are laying out a clear vision and Canadians need to choose which vision they prefer.

Frankly, I am getting sick an tired of the whining that comes from conservative supporters who seem to think that the conservatives should be elected by default simply because of the scandal in Quebec. In a democracy, parties need to give people a reason to vote for them - it is ridiculous to expect voters to vote for you just because you have not been in power and therefore have had no opportunity to abuse the public trust.

So far, Harper has done a good job of giving people a reason to for him in this campaign. If he had been doing this 6 months ago he might be at 40% in the polls now. We will have to see if there is enough time to turn the tide before the vote. If the election was held today I would vote for him - and I have been a pretty die hard Liberal supporter.

[scribblet]

There's another article here on CARP, its beginning to look more serious, IMHO

http://www.ctv.ca/servlet/ArticleNews/stor...09?hub=CanadaAM

CTV.ca News Staff

Allegations of leaks in his department have put Finance Minister Ralph Goodale on the hot seat in the middle of an election campaign, and put the director of a seniors' organization in an uncomfortable spotlight.

The Liberals were caught off guard Wednesday night, when Bill Gleberzon, the Director of Government & Media Relations for Canada's Association for the Fifty Plus (CARP), told CTV News he got a phone call on the morning of Nov. 23, alerting him to an announcement later that day from the finance minister's office.

That call came several hours before Goodale announced that the federal government had decided not to change its stand on income trusts but would increase the tax credit on corporate dividends.

In the hours before the official announcement, there was heavier-than-usual trading in income trusts and dividend-paying stocks. That has fuelled speculation that some investors profited from an early warning.

"The day they made the announcement they phoned us and said something is going to be said," Gleberzon, told CTV News Wednesday nigh

[shoop]

That's music to our ears.

Seriously though, it isn't a question of timing. It wouldn't have made sense to release all these announcements pre-writ.

Their strategy is making an impact, unless you follow the SES tracking polls. Every other pollster shows positive movement for the CPC.

So far, Harper has done a good job of giving people a reason to for him in this campaign. If he had been doing this 6 months ago he might be at 40% in the polls now. We will have to see if there is enough time to turn the tide before the vote. If the election was held today I would vote for him - and I have been a pretty die hard Liberal supporter.

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