Bill Morneau

Morneau as a child with his family in Thunder Beach, Ontario

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. Bill Morneau's father, Frank Morneau, founded the actuarial and benefit consulting firm W.F. Morneau & Associates in 1966.

Morneau was born in Toronto at St. Joseph's Health Centre and attended Senator O'Connor College School.[5] From 1981 to 1986, Morneau attended The University of Western Ontario and completed an Honours B.A. 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 with his wife Nancy McCain, a member of the New Brunswick family which owns McCain Foods, and has four children - Henry, Clare, Edward and Grace.[6] Grace is originally from Northern Uganda, and the couple sponsored her to join their family in 2010.[7]

Bill Morneau had demonstrated an interest in business and entrepreneurship from a young age. At 17, Morneau and a friend started a business servicing swimming pools for homeowners, mostly in the Toronto neighbourhood of Don Mills. Morneau ran the business for four years, helping him pay a good part of his university tuition.[8]

W.F. Morneau & Associates was an actuarial and benefits consulting firm; Morneau's father, Frank, founded the company and was the CEO.[9] Morneau joined the company in 1990, and two years later was given the role of President. In 1997, Morneau replaced his father as CEO.[10]

In the years when Morneau ran the firm, the company absorbed competitors across Canada as it grew to become the nation’s biggest player in the sector. In 1992, the firm bought the Canadian actuarial consulting businesses of Coopers & Lybrand, followed by the 1997 acquisition of Sobeco, a large Quebec-based pension and benefit businesses, from Ernst & Young. In 1998, Morneau also acquired the Canadian pension consulting practice of Deloitte & Touche.

In 2008, Morneau’s firm also bought Shepell FGI — a group that helped companies provide mental health and emotional counselling to employees — and changed its name to Morneau Shepell. [11] As executive chair of Morneau Shepell, Morneau led the firm through a period of growth from a few hundred people in 1992 to almost 4000 employees in 2015 - becoming the largest Canadian human resources services organization, with offices across North America. Under his leadership the firm went through several significant changes, including going public on the Toronto Stock Exchange in 2005.[12] Morneau Shepell provides over 20,000 organizations representing millions of Canadians with pension, employee benefit, and employee assistance programs.[13]

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.[14]

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).

Morneau also served as the chair of Covenant House (1997–2000), and chair of the C.D. Howe Institute (2010–2014). He has served 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), the Toronto Zoo Foundation (2000–2004), and several others.[15][16]

In 2010, Morneau began leading an initiative with the UNHCR to open a secondary school for refugee girls in Kakuma refugee camp, Kenya. Opened in 2014, today the school is home to 352 girls, representing 15 per cent of the total secondary school female enrolment in the Kakuma Camp. The day-to-day operation of the school rests with the Windle Trust and its team of 18 teachers, including eight women, and a staff of 20.[17]

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.[18] His report led to the eventual establishment of Investment Management Corporation of Ontario, which now pools funds and offers public-sector pension plans lower costs with economies of scale.[19] In 2014, he was appointed by Ontario Premier Kathleen Wynne to an expert panel to advise on how to support the 3.5 million workers in Ontario who would not receive a comparable workplace pension after their retirement. This led to the creation of the Ontario Retirement Pension Plan, which was later withdrawn when Morneau became Canada’s Finance Minister and the Canada Pension Plan was expanded under his leadership.[20][21][22][23]

In September 2017, Morneau was fined for failing to disclose a private non-commercial real estate holding company in Avignon, France owned by he and his wife, which owns a family villa in Provence, France, to Canada's Conflict of Interest and Ethics Commissioner. Morneau said that this was a result of early administrative confusion which led to only the property, and not the legal structure, being disclosed.[41] [42]

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 incorrectly reported to have done.[43] 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.[44] [45]

In 2018, the Conflict of Interest and Ethics Commissioner cleared Morneau of Opposition accusations that he had benefited from insider trading.[46][47]

Morneau and his office were also cited in the Commissioner's investigation into the SNC-Lavalin affair, which found that Prime Minister Justin Trudeau had improperly pressured then Minister of Justice and Attorney General Jody Wilson-Raybould to intervene in an ongoing criminal case against Quebec-based construction giant SNC-Lavalin.[48]

In 2016, Morneau released his first budget as Finance Minister. Items of note in the budget included $120 billion over 10 years for public infrastructure — focusing on transit, water, waste management and housing — as well as the introduction of the Canada Child Benefit. The budget also included money for First Nations communities, as well as larger seniors and employment insurance benefits.[49]

In 2017, Morneau released his second budget and Canada’s first gender-based federal budget. The budget included new federal investments in early learning and child care, more flexible benefits for family caregivers, more support for Indigenous women, and a national strategy to address gender-based violence. Additionally, Budget 2017 included $11.2-billion for an 11 year national housing strategy.[50]

2018’s budget continued the theme of greater equality for women in Canada, with money targeting new parental supports, gender equality and anti-harassment initiatives, as well as measures to promote pay equity. Budget 2018 also included new investments to tackle the opioid crisis, cope with a surge in asylum seekers crossing the border from the United States and improve living conditions for Indigenous people.[51]

In 2019, Morneau tabled his fourth budget as Finance Minister, and final one before the 2019 Canadian federal election. The stated goals of the budget were to help Canadians feel a greater sense of financial security, gain new career skills, and be able to afford a first home. This budget also took "initial steps" toward a national pharmacare program by creating a national drug agency with the aim of bulk-buying drugs to lower costs.[52]

• Official website
• Bio & mandate from the Prime Minister
• Bill Morneau – Parliament of Canada biography