CBC reports that, “The federal Liberal Party’s public safety critic (Mark Holland) has written to the RCMP, asking the force to probe the recent run on B.C.’s Taseko Mines Ltd. stock and a possibility the sell-off was triggered by a government leak.”
“An MLA from the B.C. Interior is (also) joining calls for an RCMP investigation. Bob Simpson, whose riding includes the proposed Prosperity mine site, calls the possibility of a government leak ‘deeply troubling’.”
“As CBC News first revealed, shares in Taseko Mines Ltd. mysteriously dropped almost 40 per cent in frantic trading on the Toronto Stock Exchange on Oct. 14, more than two weeks before Ottawa announced it was blocking the firm’s planned development of a controversial B.C. mine.”
“Federal officials interviewed by CBC News on condition of anonymity said the unexplained crash of Taseko stock caused instant panic in the ministerial offices that were involved in reviewing the proposed mine. Everyone, they said, had the same fear: that it was a government leak.”
“The British Columbia Securities Commission (BCSC) confirmed it is reviewing a referral made to it by the Investment Industry Regulatory Organization of Canada (IIROC) regarding the trading in the shares of Taseko.”
The Globe and Mail adds that the Liberal request for an RCMP investigation is “the same type of request that parties including the Conservatives made in 2005 when they asked Mounties to look into unusual income trust trading activity shortly before the Martin government announced it would not tax trusts. …The RCMP income trust probe, announced amid the 2006 election campaign, helped the Tories topple the Martin government.”
Speaking to CTV’s Power Play on Thursday, RCMP Commissioner Bill Elliott said, “So far, I am not aware that we have had any involvement, but I anticipate, given the nature of the allegations, that it is something we would be involved in.”
And Postmedia News reports that, “The Conservative government ran into trouble earlier this week when it emerged that a staff member from a Conservative MP’s office leaked documents linked to a pending House of Commons finance committee report to Ottawa-based lobbyists. Conservative MP Kelly Brock issued an apology to the Commons and her staff member has been let go.”
