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Poilievre alleged the early sale of the shares saved the owner half a million dollars.

He repeatedly asked Morneau if it was a coincidence that the 680,000 shares were sold off a week before the tax announcement. And he asked Morneau repeatedly to confirm he was the “someone” responsible for selling off those shares in the company founded by the minister’s father.

When the Speaker questioned the appropriateness of questioning the government on the matter, Poilievre retorted: “It is actually the responsibility of government to ensure that no minister ever uses inside knowledge to benefit from transactions on the stock market.”

While Morneau dodged those allegations of insider trading Monday, he had more to say at a hastily called news conference Tuesday.

“What we’re hearing now is in my mind (an) absolutely crazy idea that something that we campaigned on, that we talked to 36 million Canadians about which was a rise in taxes in the top one per cent was somehow knowledge that was only my knowledge,” he said.

Poilievre maintained he hasn’t “actually accused him of anything” and has only asked Morneau whether he was the one who sold the shares a week before the tax announcement.

“I am absolutely confident that everything I’ve said out there and in here is true,” Poilievre said in the Commons, challenging Morneau to meet him outside the chamber to answer the question.

Morneau was not present during question period Tuesday because he said he had a speech to deliver in Toronto. But under continued Conservative attacks over the stock sale, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau asserted that the finance minister “continues to focus on the things that matter to Canadians and he has our full confidence.”