OTTAWA—Opposition critics are hammering Finance Minister Bill Morneau’s decision to retain shares in Morneau Shepell, the big pension firm he used to run, saying he faced a “minefield” of potential conflicts.

Those may have included the Liberal government’s decision to financially back Bombardier last winter to the tune of $372.5 million in interest-free loans for its CSeries and Global 7000 aircraft programs.

Morneau Shepell, which bills itself as Canada’s largest administrator of retirement and benefits plans, administers “some” group insurance and pension benefits for Bombardier, a knowledgeable source who declined to speak on the record told the Star. The contract has been in place for over a decade and there has been no substantial change since the 2015 election, the source said.

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Neither Morneau Shepell nor Bombardier would discuss their contract, but Morneau Shepell’s copyright stamp is on the website portal for Bombardier employees to access information about their benefits.

However, it is unclear whether Morneau participated in any of the government discussions around Ottawa’s repayable contribution for Bombardier or whether a so-called conflict-of-interest “screen” set up at the urging of the federal ethics commissioner Mary Dawson prevented Morneau from participating in those decisions.

Dawson advised Morneau his chief of staff should act as his “screen” and advise when the minister cannot participate in discussions due to potential conflicts.

Morneau’s office declined to answer directly whether Morneau participated in Bombardier discussions, and will only say the conflict-of-interest “screens” Dawson recommended “are in place and have been applied several times over the course of the last two years.”

Dan Lauzon, communications director for Morneau, said “the screen protects against conflicts arising from dealings specifically with or related to Morneau Shepell, and each instance is reported directly to the Ethics commissioner.”

Morneau said last Thursday he remembered “at least two times” being taken out of meetings, and was unaware of any requirement to report the recusals. There are no formal reports of “recusals” by Morneau published on Dawson’s website but the commissioner said Friday she only publishes instances when the screen fails to work in advance, and a minister has to step out of — or recuse from — a meeting or discussion.

Morneau Shepell has worked with a range of clients in the public and private sectors. A news release from 2012 says the company had recently inked contracts to perform disability management services for Canada Post, provide pension administration technology to the Alberta government, and deliver pension administration services for small and mid-size clients through TD Bank.

The Canadian Federation of Independent Business, which has been critical of the Trudeau government’s proposed tax changes for private corporations, offers its 109,000 members access to voluntary retirement savings plans designed by Morneau Shepell. CFIB spokesperson Andy Radia said the organization also has a workplace safety program with Morneau Shepell with “several thousand” participants in Quebec.

The Toronto Sun reported Friday Morneau Shepell similarly administers insurance and benefits for Bank of Canada employees — an institution Morneau indirectly has influence over because he appoints people to its board. However, in that case the bank had signed off last February on a four-year extension of the contract with Morneau Shepell.

Conservative finance critic Pierre Poilievre said in an interview it is “extremely troubling” Morneau continues to hold shares “in a company with some vast tentacles in the Canadian economy.”

“He is the most powerful financial decision maker in the government. He controls $300 billion of expenditures. He is the shareholder of the Bank of Canada, sells bonds to banks and other financial institutions and is one of the people in the government who approves massive subsidies to businesses like Bombardier, for example. These vast powers mean he should have no vested interest in any individual publicly traded company.”

NDP ethics critic Nathan Cullen said in an interview Morneau ought to have recused himself from any dealings or conversations about government support for Bombardier.

“If Bombardier is getting a forgivable loan, it’s going to help Bombardier out; if Morneau Shepell’s working for Bombardier, then it’s helping Morneau Shepell out.”

Cullen said even if it is unknown whether Morneau participated in any conversations about Bombardier, it shows the finance minister’s poor judgment at the outset to keep his interests in a company “that has dealings right across the government of Canada.”

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Cullen said it amounted to Morneau “making the decision that he was going to be dodging a conflict-of-interest minefield every day.”

The NDP has also put forward a motion in the House of Commons calling on Morneau to apologize for misleading Canadians about how his private assets were handled.

With a file from Jenna Moon

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