Pallister declares win in real estate debate

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This article was published 24/04/2018 (2340 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

BRIAN Pallister says he feels vindicated by a report from the province’s conflict of interest commissioner which says that recreational properties should not have to be disclosed in conflict of interest filings.

But the NDP Opposition counters that commissioner Jeffrey Schnoor’s recommendations for new and improved conflict of interest legislation have nothing to do with the premier’s current obligations to declare his Costa Rican properties on his annual disclosure forms.

A discussion on the conflict of interest commissioner’s 53-page report took up almost the full hour devoted to executive council estimates on Tuesday, with Pallister answering questions posed exclusively by NDP Leader Wab Kinew. The session was abbreviated — it normally runs for two hours — because of the premier’s attendance at a funeral.

Pallister pointed to a section of Schnoor’s report that said MLAs should not be required to disclose assets and liabilities where there is little likelihood of them giving rise to a conflict of interest. This includes a principal residence and “real property that the member of the member’s family uses for recreational purposes.”

Pallister owns a vacation home in Costa Rica through a holding company. He has repeatedly insisted that he need not disclose the property, although he has “voluntarily” done so in recent years.

Pallister has said he has been given verbal advice from Schnoor and Schnoor’s predecessor that he needn’t disclose his Costa Rican home.

However, when NDP MLA Andrew Swan asked for written advice last year from Schnoor based on a hypothetical situation that parallelled the premier’s, the commissioner said that such a property should be disclosed.

On Tuesday, however, Pallister declared victory. “There’s no conflict in owning a vacation property,” he said after the estimates meeting. “What legislation could possibly come forward here that would impact on this property that we (he and his wife Esther) saved for almost three decades to invest in?”

Kinew said the premier should postpone his celebration. He said the commissioner’s report has nothing to do with Pallister’s obligations to declare his corporate holdings. In fact, he said, the commissioner recommends that MLAs file a disclosure statement that includes the names of all corporations or other organizations in which the MLA or anyone in his or her family is an officer or a director.

larry.kusch@freepress.mb.ca