Bill Morneau

The Honourable Bill Morneau PC MP
39th Minister of Finance
Incumbent
Assumed office November 4, 2015
Prime Minister	Justin Trudeau
Preceded by	Joe Oliver
Member of the Canadian Parliament for Toronto Centre
Incumbent
Assumed office October 19, 2015
Preceded by	Chrystia Freeland
Personal details
Born	William Francis Morneau (1962-10-07) October 7, 1962 Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Political party	Liberal
Spouse(s)	Nancy McCain
Relations	Eleanore A. Cronk (aunt)
Children	4
Residence	Toronto, Ontario
Alma mater	University of Western Ontario INSEAD London School of Economics

William Francis "Bill" Morneau PC MP (born October 7, 1962) is a Canadian politician and businessman who was elected in the 2015 Canadian federal election as the Member of Parliament for Toronto Centre.

Morneau was executive chair of Canada's largest human resources firm, Morneau Shepell, and the former chair of the C. D. Howe Institute. He has also served as the chair of the board at St. Michael's Hospital, and Covenant House. Morneau studied at the University of Western Ontario, INSEAD, and the London School of Economics (LSE). Since November 4, 2015, he has been Canada's Minister of Finance.^[1]

Early life

Morneau's parents are William Francis "Frank" Morneau, Sr. who came from Walkerville, Windsor, Ontario, and Helen (Lynch) Morneau, who came from Adjala Township, Alliston, Ontario. Their families had deep roots in both areas. Morneau was born in Toronto at St. Joseph's Health Centre and attended Senator O'Connor College School.^[2] From 1981 to 1986, Morneau attended The University of Western Ontario and completed an Honours BA. As an undergraduate, he spent one year at the University of Grenoble in France. He then earned an MBA from INSEAD. Morneau eventually went on to earn an M.Sc. in Economics from the London School of Economics (LSE).

Morneau lives in Toronto and has three children, Henry, Clare, and Edward with his wife Nancy McCain, a member of the New Brunswick family which owns McCain Foods.^[3] In 2010, he sponsored Grace Acan, a Grade 9 girl originally from Northern Uganda. She is considered part of the family and calls him "Dad."^[4]

Business career

Bill Morneau's father, Frank Morneau, founded the actuarial and benefit consulting firm W.F. Morneau & Associates in 1966. By 1985, the firm had grown to annual revenue of $5 million.^[5] Bill Morneau joined the company in 1987. Morneau held positions of increasing senority at his father's company including appointments as president in 1992, president and chief executive officer in 1998, and chair and chief executive officer in 2008.^[6]

As executive chair of Morneau Shepell, the largest Canadian human resources services organization with offices across North America, Morneau led the firm through a period of growth from approximately 200 employees in 1992 to almost 4000 in 2015. Under his leadership the firm has gone through several significant changes, including the acquisition of Sobeco from Ernst & Young in 1997, going public on the Toronto Stock Exchange in 2005, and the acquisition of Shepell-FGI in 2008.^[7]

Morneau Shepell provides over 20,000 organizations representing millions of Canadians with pension, employee benefit, and employee assistance programs.^[8]

Morneau is the co-author of The Real Retirement, an analysis of the context and the factors involved in helping Canadians plan for a successful retirement originally published in 2012 with Frederick Vettese.^[9]

Public life

Morneau served as the chair of the board at St. Michael's Hospital from 2009 to 2013, and as a board member from 2003 to 2013. He has also served on the board of St. Michael's Hospital Foundation (2013–2015).

Previously, Morneau served as the chair of Covenant House (1997–2000), chair of the C.D. Howe Institute (2010–2014), and as a board member at AGF Management (2001–2014). He has volunteered as a board member for the Loran Scholars Foundation (2008-2015), the Art Gallery of Ontario Foundation (2004–2011), the Canadian Opera Company (2001–2010), Greenwood College (2012–2015), and the Toronto Zoo Foundation (2000–2004).^[10][11]

From 2010 to 2014, Morneau served as Chair of the C.D. Howe Institute, a non-partisan policy analysis group. In 2014, Morneau resigned from C.D. Howe after making a speech at the 2014 Liberal convention.^[12]

In 2010, Morneau began leading an initiative with the UNHCR to open a secondary school for refugee girls in Kakuma refugee camp, Kenya. The school opened in 2014, and currently enrolls 340 girls.^[13]

Morneau was appointed as pension investment advisor to the Ontario Minister of Finance Dwight Duncan in 2012, providing counsel aimed at facilitating the pooling of public-sector pension fund assets.^[14] In 2014, he was appointed by Ontario Premier Kathleen Wynne to an expert panel led by former Prime Minister Paul Martin to recommend an Ontario pension supplement to the Canada Pension Plan.^{[15][16][17][18]}

MP and Minister of Finance

In June 2014, Morneau was nominated as the Liberal Party of Canada candidate for the newly configured riding of Toronto Centre. In December 2014, he was also appointed to serve on Justin Trudeau's Economic Council of Advisors to provide the Liberal leader with advice on economic issues. Morneau was the federal Liberal candidate in Toronto Centre for the 2015 federal election.^[19]

On October 19, 2015, Morneau was elected as the Member of Parliament for Toronto Centre with 57.9% of the vote. He was then named by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau as Minister of Finance for Canada on November 4, 2015, becoming the first rookie Member of Parliament to hold the position.^[20]

Since his appointment, Morneau has played a key role in implementing a number of Liberal government initiatives, including tax changes, the introduction of the Canada Child Benefit, and the negotiation of an expansion to the Canada Pension Plan.^[21][22][23] During his time as Finance Minister, the Canadian economy has also seen a period of high growth and historically low unemployment.^[24]

Morneau has also received criticism for abandoning the Liberal's platform commitment to run annual deficits of less than $10 billion during the first couple years of their mandate, and return to balance by 2019-20. A few months after taking office, he abandoned those vows, citing a weaker-than-expected economy.^[25] The Liberal government changes to small business taxation, proposed in 2017, have been one of the most controversial issues in Morneau's career as Finance Minister.^[26] The changes involve restricting several tax planning strategies, including passive investment income and income-sprinkling for private corporations, that are often used by small businesses.^[27] In response to the criticism, Morneau has made several changes, including reducing the overall small business tax rate from 11% to 9%.^[28]

Personal controversies

In September 2017, Morneau was fined for failing to disclose his private corporation (Mas des Morneau) that owns a property in southern France to Canada's Conflict of Interest and Ethics Commissioner. Morneau has said that this was a result of early administrative confusion which led to only the property, and not the legal structure, being disclosed.^[29]

In the Fall of 2017, it was revealed that based on the advise of the Conflict of Interest and Ethics Commissioner, Morneau did not place his assets in a blind trust upon being appointed Minister of Finance, something he was reported to have done.^[30] Responding to criticism, Morneau sold the remainder of his shares in his former company, Morneau Shepell (donated a portion of the profits to charity), and placed the remainder of his assets in a blind trust.^[31]

In December 2017, the Opposition charged that Morneau had engaged in insider trading because he and his father sold Morneau Shepell shares before adverse income tax changes in December 2015.^[32] On January 8th, 2018, the Conflict of Interest and Ethics Commissioner cleared Morneau of Opposition charges that he had benefited from insider trading.^[33]

In 2018, the Conflict of Interest and Ethics Commissioner concluded an examination into allegations made by Opposition MPs regarding Morneau's involvement in Bill C-27. The Commissioner cleared Morneau of these allegations, determining that he had not placed himself in a conflict of interest.^[34]

Electoral record

References