BONOKOSKI: Trudeau hiding behind a woman’s skirt

For a man who claims to be an avowed feminist, Justin Trudeau sure likes to hide behind a certain woman’s skirt.

And so, apparently, do many in his cabinet, most particularly Finance Minister Bill Morneau, the infamously dubbed Willy Porno during his teenaged years at Toronto’s Senator O’Connor College School.

Yes, high-school yearbooks have always wrought a certain hell.

What we have heard now is that a number of Trudeau’s cabinet ministers have taken advantage of the same loophole that Morneau used to maintain control of his wealth while deciding on the wealth of the country, and all are hiding behind the same skirt that Trudeau so loves to cite as their guidance counsellor — the skirt of Conflict of Interest and Ethics Commissioner Mary Dawson.

Now, two things should have happened by now, but haven’t.

One, Mary Dawson should no longer be the federal ethics commissioner, now working through her third extension.

And, secondly, Bill Morneau should no longer be finance minister, not flailing away to regain lost trust.

Indeed, when a finance minister has lost the trust of the people, and Morneau unquestionably has, then it is the duty of a prime minister to yank him out of the front row, and put him somewhere in the back benches where he can do no harm.

Trudeau went to the polls promising to be a cut above his predecessor, the controlling Stephen Harper, and provide Canadians with an accountability and transparency that would stir pride.

But he has done no such thing.

This is the prime minister who, when in opposition, went after Harper like a dog on a bone for any and all improprieties, and hounded him relentlessly when the Good Ol’ Duff — Sen. Mike Duffy — got himself in a pickle over Senate expenses and a $90,000 cheque from the chief of staff in the PMO.

But the time the dusted settled, and Duffy was acquitted on all charges, the Liberals were on their way to a majority victory and Duffy was yesterday’s news.

So, let’s talk ethics.

As Mary Dawson has confirmed, a number of Trudeau’s cabinet ministers — supposedly “fewer than five” — who watched Morneau get grilled in Question Period by Tory leader Andrew Scheer and NDP house leader Guy Caron on his dodge of inscrutable ethics were playing the same game with their own investments.

Instead of putting their assets in a blind trust, they retained control of their money by holding it indirectly in a numbered corporation, or some similar mechanism.

And these are people who have insider information that goes way beyond normal insider information.

They are legislators, and they are legislators who sit in on cabinet meetings that decide on financial policy.

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