Poilievre personally holds investment in Bitcoin as he promotes crypto to Canadians
Poilievre personally holds investment in Bitcoin as he promotes crypto to Canadians
Poilievre personally holds investment in Bitcoin as he promotes crypto to Canadians
Conservative Party leadership candidate Pierre Poilievre has a personal financial interest in cryptocurrencies that he has promoted during his campaign as a hedge against inflation.
The Ottawa-area MP’s assets include units of Purpose Bitcoin, a Canadian-based, exchange-traded fund that holds cryptocurrencies, according to his May 4 disclosure to the federal ethics commissioner.
Poilievre’s campaign denied encouraging investment in crypto puts him in a conflict of interest.
"Mr. Poilievre spoke with the Office of the Conflict of Interest and Ethics Commissioner prior to publicly commenting on Bitcoin and Bitcoin related policies,” his spokesperson Anthony Koch said in an email.
The campaign provided an email from the Office of the Ethics Commissioner from November that said the interest in Bitcoin “does not prevent you from commenting on cryptocurrencies in general, participating in debates and vote on public policies related to the regulation of cryptocurrencies.”
The commissioner’s office also said Poilievre was free to host conversations with other MPs “on this subject matter as any policies or regulations would apply to you as one of a broad class.”
Poilievre has proposed barring the Bank of Canada from developing its own digital currency and said Canadians should be free to use alternative currencies for payments.
“We need sound money again—and also the freedom for buyers and sellers to choose #bitcoin and other technology,” he tweeted on April 1.
In March, he held an event at a London, Ont., restaurant and paid for a shawarma using Bitcoin. And at an event in April in BC, he made a Bitcoin donation to the BC SPCA, accompanied by a dog wearing a Bitcoin logo.
“A Poilievre government would welcome this new, decentralized, bottom-up economy and allow people to take control of their money from bankers and politicians,” his campaign said in a press release.
Since then, the value of Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies has plunged, exposing Poilievre to criticism from opponents who say encouraging Canadians to invest in something so volatile is reckless.
The value of the Purpose Bitcoin ETF has fallen nearly 40 per cent over the past six months.
The Conflict of Interest Code for Members of the House of Commons requires MPs to report assets and liabilities in excess of $10,000. But it does not require them to reveal the value of their assets or when they were acquired.
Poilievre’s campaign said his holdings in Bitcoin were right around the disclosure threshold.
In his disclosure, Poilievre also reported holding exchange-traded funds based on the stock indexes of Singapore and Switzerland. His campaign said he was required under the conflict-of-interest Code to publicly disclose these ETFs, but not his holdings in a Canadian stock index fund.
“Mr. Poilievre's largest investment by far is in Canadian Index Fund that tracks the TSX,” the campaign said.
The co-founder of ethics advocacy group Democracy Watch said MPs should be prevented from holding assets like Bitcoin.
“It’s clearly unethical for MPs or party leadership candidates to advocate for changes that will help businesses they are invested in, and the best way to stop this is to prohibit MPs from having investments,” Duff Conacher, said in an email.
During last week’s leadership debate in Edmonton, Poilievre was challenged over his past comments on Bitcoin. He should not be encouraging investment in “magic internet money,” said Brampton, Ont., mayor and leadership candidate Patrick Brown.
“People can make their own investment decisions,” Poilievre said in response to a question from Leslyn Lewis, an Ontario Conservative MP and leadership candidate.
“I simply said they should be free to decide whether they want to use Bitcoin. I don’t want to be like communist China and ban Bitcoin or other technologies.”
Canadian investors are already free to invest in cryptocurrencies. Indeed, Poilievre is not the only MP with investments in crypto. At least seven others declared Bitcoin or other digital currency assets in their disclosures, including:
Ben Lobb (Conservative, Ontario): Bitcoin.
Chandra Arya (Liberal, Ontario): Stock options of Coinbase Global Inc.
Taleeb Noormohamed (Liberal, BC): Bitcoin, Ethereum, Stacks and Coinbase Global Inc.
What does Bill C-21 propose to do? From a handgun 'freeze' to 'red' and 'yellow' flag laws, CTVNews.ca explores the federal government's proposed firearm legislation.
NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh's recent encounter with protesters at an Ontario election campaign stop, where he was verbally harassed, is casting a renewed spotlight on politicians' security, with Singh telling CTV News that he's witnessing a level of anger he hasn't seen before.
The stunning leak of a U.S. Supreme Court draft opinion to strike down the landmark Roe v. Wade decision on abortion rights seized political attention in Ottawa on Tuesday. In the House of Commons, MPs' persisting differing views were on display after a symbolic push to affirm abortion rights failed, and the Conservative caucus were told not to comment on the leak.
Six candidates are on the ballot to become the Conservative Party's next leader. In holding rallies, doing media interviews, and participating in debates, each contender has been releasing details of their policy platforms. Here's a snapshot of where the candidates stand on the economy, housing, climate, defence and social issues.
The federal Liberals and New Democrats have finalized an agreement that, if maintained, would keep Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's government in power until June 2025, in exchange for progress on longstanding NDP priorities. Trudeau announced Tuesday morning that the confidence-and-supply agreement has been brokered, and is effective immediately.
'After a weeks-long survey of just about everyone I've met ... the overall judgment on Justin Trudeau is one of being a political write-off,' writes Don Martin in an opinion column for CTVNews.ca. 'He’s too woke, too precious, preachy in tone, exceedingly smug, lacking in leadership, fading in celebrity, slow to act, short-sighted in vision and generally getting more irritating with every breathlessly whispered public pronouncement,' Martin writes.
It's time for the whiners to win and the government to reopen the skies, a return to those glory times of flying when the biggest complaints were expensive parking, a middle seat and stale pretzels, commentator Don Martin writes in an exclusive opinion column for CTVNews.ca.
In an exclusive opinion column for CTVNews.ca, Don Martin says Doug Ford coasted to majority re-election victory in Ontario by sticking to the middle of the road: 'Not too progressive. Not too conservative.'
There's a lesson for Canada's political leaders in the short life and quick death of Jason Kenney as premier of Alberta, writes Don Martin in an exclusive opinion column for CTVNews.ca.
It's becoming a make-or-break week for two Conservative premiers as their futures pivot on a pair of defining moments, writes Don Martin in an exclusive opinion column for CTVNews.ca.
The U.S. Supreme Court has ended the nation's constitutional protections for abortion that had been in place nearly 50 years in a decision by its conservative majority to overturn Roe v. Wade. Friday's outcome is expected to lead to abortion bans in roughly half the states.
Canadian politicians are responding to the U.S. Supreme Court's decision to end constitutional protections for abortion, with Prime Minister Justin Trudeau calling the news 'horrific.'
Canadian advocates are cautioning against complacency regarding abortions protections in place in Canada, after the U.S. Supreme court voted to overturn Roe v. Wade on Friday.
With the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision to end constitutional protections for abortion, 26 states are likely to ban abortions; 13 of which are expected to enact bans against the medical procedure immediately.
A Member of Parliament from rural Alberta went live on Facebook Friday to celebrate a United States Supreme Court vote to end constitutional protections for abortion.
Miners working in a gold field in Yukon have uncovered what is being called the 'most complete' mummified woolly mammoth found to date in North America, officials announced on Friday.
After a week of criticism and anger at the Mass Casualty Commission in Nova Scotia, and outcry in a rural area of New Brunswick, there are questions about the RCMP’s role in community policing.
Vancouver police insist there's not much they can say publicly about their investigation into the death of missing Indigenous teen Noelle 'Ellie' O'Soup, but 'everything's on the table' as they work to determine how and why she died.
The federal government has announced improvements to the passport processing system in an attempt to address continued backlogs, but Canadians continue to endure long lineups.
A year ago in the middle of the night, a 12-storey oceanfront condo building in Surfside, Florida, came down with a thunderous roar, leaving a giant pile of rubble and claiming 98 lives -- one of the deadliest collapses in U.S. history.
After weeks of ferocious fighting, Ukrainian forces have begun retreating from a besieged city in the country's east to move to stronger positions, a regional governor said Friday, the four-month mark in Russia's invasion.
An aftershock took more lives Friday and threatened to pile even more misery on an area of eastern Afghanistan reeling from a powerful earthquake that state media said killed 1,150 people this week.
The former Minneapolis police officer who fatally shot an unarmed woman who called 911 to report a possible sexual assault in the alley behind her home is scheduled to be released from prison next week, months after his murder conviction was overturned and he was resentenced on a lesser charge.
LGBTQ2S+ Pride commemorations that sometimes have felt like victory parties for civil rights gains are now grappling with an environment of ramped-up legislative and rhetorical battles over sexual orientation and gender identity, and fears that a Supreme Court ruling on abortion opens the door to rights being taken away.
President Joe Biden will sign a bipartisan bill to address gun violence into law Saturday before departing for Europe, the White House announced Friday.
Now that the House and Senate have adjourned for the summer, CTVNews.ca breaks down what key pieces of legislation passed in the final days of the spring session, and what key government bills will be left to deal with in the fall.
Canadian politicians are responding to the U.S. Supreme Court's decision to end constitutional protections for abortion, with Prime Minister Justin Trudeau calling the news 'horrific.'
The inquiry investigating the Nova Scotia mass shooting wants to know why the federal Justice Department withheld notes written by a senior Mountie for several months -- and if there's more revelations to come.
The Ontario Brain Institute is playing a key role in open science and brain health research with the release of new clinical data that will help scientists around the world advance investigations into pediatric neurological conditions.
German lawmakers voted Friday to end the country's ban on advertising abortions, which has in the past led to doctors being prosecuted for providing information about the procedure to potential patients.
Thirty-three countries have reported 920 probable cases of severe acute hepatitis in children so far, a jump of 270 from May, the World Health Organization said on Friday.
Coinciding with unrelenting cyberattacks against Ukraine, state-backed Russian hackers have engaged in "strategic espionage" against governments, think tanks, businesses and aid groups in 42 countries supporting Kyiv, Microsoft said in a report Wednesday.
NASA's first spacecraft designed to study a metallic asteroid won't be launching this year as planned, according to an announcement made by the agency on Friday.
Tennis star Osaka and her agent and business partner, Stuart Duguid, are forming a media company called Hana Kuma in partnership with The SpringHill Company, which was created by NBA star James and Maverick Carter.
Several celebrities including Viola Davis, Bette Midler and Stephen King reacted after the Supreme Court on Friday voted to overturn Roe v. Wade, which guaranteed a woman’s constitutional right to abortion.
Statistics Canada says the number of job vacancies at the beginning of April hit just over one million, up more than 40 per cent compared with a year earlier.
Despite record low levels of unemployment, many sectors are suffering from labour shortages in the second quarter with restaurants and hotels continuing to be amongst the worst hit, a new Statistics Canada survey finds.
After the U.S. Supreme Court ruled on Friday to overturn Roe v. Wade, corporate giants from a range of industries pledged to provide support and financial assistance for employees — and, in some cases, their dependents — seeking abortions in states that outlaw the procedure.
A new painting of the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge was revealed to the public on Thursday. The painting – the first official portrait of Prince William and his wife, Catherine, together – is on display at the Fitzwilliam Museum in Cambridge, U.K.
Mounties in Coquitlam are appealing to the public for help tracking down two pieces of artwork that were allegedly stolen from a high school art display.
A bloodhound named Trumpet won the Westminster Kennel Club Dog Show on Wednesday night, marking the first time the breed has ever snared U.S. dogdom's most coveted best in show prize.
Canadians Bennedict Mathurin and Shaedon Sharpe took very different paths to the NBA, but their pro dreams were realized just minutes apart on Thursday.
Toyota is recalling 2,700 bZ4X crossover vehicles globally for wheel bolts that could become loose, in a major setback for the Japanese automaker's ambitions to roll out electric cars.
Two people involved in testing for the electric car brand NIO died when one of its vehicles fell three stories from a Shanghai parking structure, the company said Friday.
