Investment

Manitoba NDP demands premier go beyond disclosure rules by revealing investment details

Published

2 years ago

April 13, 2023

Manitoba’s Official Opposition is demanding transparency about Premier Heather Stefanson’s participation in a fund for affluent investors, despite the fact there are no laws requiring provincial politicians to disclose which companies they invest in.

The NDP noted that Stefanson is a client of the capital management company Manitou Investment Management Ltd., which she disclosed in her conflict of interest declaration. The firm said in a conference call it boosted client portfolios by a quarter billion dollars in 2021.

The Portfolio Management Association of Canada says the firm requires a minimum $5 million investment, but the premier’s office says “the minimum is a guideline” and Stefanson invested “nowhere near that amount.”

During question period at the legislature on Thursday, NDP finance critic Adrien Sala argued Stefanson, as the highest office-holder in the province, should be forthcoming about investments in an exclusive fund that could be worth millions of dollars. He alleged the premier invested at least $5 million into the fund.

“The people of Manitoba expect their leaders to be transparent and open, and when it comes to millions of dollars of investments by the premier, the expectations are rightly even higher,” Sala said.

In speaking with reporters, Sala said transparency from the premier is particularly important given that a judge recently ruled she violated conflict of interest rules by failing to promptly disclose property sales worth $31 million.

He raised the possibility Stefanson could have invested in companies that might put her in conflict with Manitoba’s interests, but offered no proof she has done so.

Sala, however, didn’t call for stricter transparency laws for Manitoba’s MLAs, nor would he commit to seeing NDP caucus members disclosing which companies they invest in.

Some of their MLAs are financially well-off too, including leader Wab Kinew, who wasn’t eligible for the inflationary relief cheque issued this year by the government for households with a net income less than $175,000.

“Not having done a survey of my colleagues, I can say as the Manitoba NDP we do not have colleagues that have, like the premier, these kinds of obscene amounts of money to throw around,” Sala said.

Asked what he considers “obscene,” Sala said “an obscene amount of money is when you forget about $31 million,” referring to the conflict of interest violation that led to last month’s Court of King’s Bench ruling against the premier. The judge wrote in a written decision she couldn’t penalize Stefanson because she had made an unintended mistake.

Stefanson’s office slammed the NDP’s claims as “incorrect and misleading.”

“What is true is Wab Kinew is a millionaire and he doesn’t want Manitobans to know,” the premier’s spokesperson alleged.

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Investment

Tesla shares soar more than 14% as Trump win is seen boosting Elon Musk’s electric vehicle company

Published

3 days ago

November 6, 2024

Anne Joseph

NEW YORK (AP) — Shares of Tesla soared Wednesday as investors bet that the electric vehicle maker and its CEO Elon Musk will benefit from Donald Trump’s return to the White House.

Tesla stands to make significant gains under a Trump administration with the threat of diminished subsidies for alternative energy and electric vehicles doing the most harm to smaller competitors. Trump’s plans for extensive tariffs on Chinese imports make it less likely that Chinese EVs will be sold in bulk in the U.S. anytime soon.

“Tesla has the scale and scope that is unmatched,” said Wedbush analyst Dan Ives, in a note to investors. “This dynamic could give Musk and Tesla a clear competitive advantage in a non-EV subsidy environment, coupled by likely higher China tariffs that would continue to push away cheaper Chinese EV players.”

Tesla shares jumped 14.8% Wednesday while shares of rival electric vehicle makers tumbled. Nio, based in Shanghai, fell 5.3%. Shares of electric truck maker Rivian dropped 8.3% and Lucid Group fell 5.3%.

Tesla dominates sales of electric vehicles in the U.S, with 48.9% in market share through the middle of 2024, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration.

Subsidies for clean energy are part of the Inflation Reduction Act, signed into law by President Joe Biden in 2022. It included tax credits for manufacturing, along with tax credits for consumers of electric vehicles.

Musk was one of Trump’s biggest donors, spending at least $119 million mobilizing Trump’s supporters to back the Republican nominee. He also pledged to give away $1 million a day to voters signing a petition for his political action committee.

In some ways, it has been a rocky year for Tesla, with sales and profit declining through the first half of the year. Profit did rise 17.3% in the third quarter.

The U.S. opened an investigation into the company’s “Full Self-Driving” system after reports of crashes in low-visibility conditions, including one that killed a pedestrian. The investigation covers roughly 2.4 million Teslas from the 2016 through 2024 model years.

And investors sent company shares tumbling last month after Tesla unveiled its long-awaited robotaxi at a Hollywood studio Thursday night, seeing not much progress at Tesla on autonomous vehicles while other companies have been making notable progress.

Tesla began selling the software, which is called “Full Self-Driving,” nine years ago. But there are doubts about its reliability.

The stock is now showing a 16.1% gain for the year after rising the past two days.

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Investment

S&P/TSX composite up more than 100 points, U.S. stock markets mixed

Published

3 weeks ago

October 16, 2024

Anne Joseph

TORONTO – Canada’s main stock index was up more than 100 points in late-morning trading, helped by strength in base metal and utility stocks, while U.S. stock markets were mixed.

The S&P/TSX composite index was up 103.40 points at 24,542.48.

In New York, the Dow Jones industrial average was up 192.31 points at 42,932.73. The S&P 500 index was up 7.14 points at 5,822.40, while the Nasdaq composite was down 9.03 points at 18,306.56.

The Canadian dollar traded for 72.61 cents US compared with 72.44 cents US on Tuesday.

The November crude oil contract was down 71 cents at US$69.87 per barrel and the November natural gas contract was down eight cents at US$2.42 per mmBTU.

The December gold contract was up US$7.20 at US$2,686.10 an ounce and the December copper contract was up a penny at US$4.35 a pound.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 16, 2024.

Companies in this story: (TSX:GSPTSE, TSX:CADUSD)

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Economy

S&P/TSX up more than 200 points, U.S. markets also higher

Published

4 weeks ago

October 11, 2024

Anne Joseph

TORONTO – Canada’s main stock index was up more than 200 points in late-morning trading, while U.S. stock markets were also headed higher.

The S&P/TSX composite index was up 205.86 points at 24,508.12.

In New York, the Dow Jones industrial average was up 336.62 points at 42,790.74. The S&P 500 index was up 34.19 points at 5,814.24, while the Nasdaq composite was up 60.27 points at 18.342.32.

The Canadian dollar traded for 72.61 cents US compared with 72.71 cents US on Thursday.

The November crude oil contract was down 15 cents at US$75.70 per barrel and the November natural gas contract was down two cents at US$2.65 per mmBTU.

The December gold contract was down US$29.60 at US$2,668.90 an ounce and the December copper contract was up four cents at US$4.47 a pound.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 11, 2024.

Companies in this story: (TSX:GSPTSE, TSX:CADUSD)

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