On Wednesday several billion dollars in investors’ money evaporated as the TSX took a 300-point dive and 
income trusts collapsed more than 10%. I sat there in QP and watched emails slide by on my Berry from people who had lost $80,000 or $100,000 by three in the afternoon. Then I looked up at my former colleagues leaping to their feet, yelping, and giving Jim a standing ovation after answering a Liberal attack. How callous and uncaring did that look? How mindlessly partisan? Can you blame taxpayers for thinking we all go mental when we arrive here?
So, I think the minister of finance could have declared a moratorium on new conversions, struck a blue ribbon panel to study the industry and eased in regs over the past few months making it crystal what direction the feds were going in. That would have allowed for a more orderly, less panicked correction, and kept from scaring the crap out of a few million seniors. It would have been a kinder blow. But if you’re a prime minister planning an election in a few months, and want nasty things done now so people will forget about them, well, you pick another route.
income trusts collapsed more than 10%. I sat there in QP and watched emails slide by on my Berry from people who had lost $80,000 or $100,000 by three in the afternoon. Then I looked up at my former colleagues leaping to their feet, yelping, and giving Jim a standing ovation after answering a Liberal attack. How callous and uncaring did that look? How mindlessly partisan? Can you blame taxpayers for thinking we all go mental when we arrive here?So, I think the minister of finance could have declared a moratorium on new conversions, struck a blue ribbon panel to study the industry and eased in regs over the past few months making it crystal what direction the feds were going in. That would have allowed for a more orderly, less panicked correction, and kept from scaring the crap out of a few million seniors. It would have been a kinder blow. But if you’re a prime minister planning an election in a few months, and want nasty things done now so people will forget about them, well, you pick another route.
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