Green Party Leader mistakenly attacks her own House Leader for conflict of interest
VICTORIA—Green Party Leader Emily Lowan attacked Minister of State Rick Glumac this morning for holding small, arms-length investments in the exact same companies that her own MLA Jeremy Valeriote does.
Glumac’s public disclosure lists multiple Exchange-Traded Funds (ETFs), each composed of small investments in dozens of companies. The fund cited by Lowan holds shares of 89 technology companies like Samsung and Apple.
Lowan takes issue with Oracle and Tesla, both of which are owned in similar funds by her own AI Critic Jeremy Valeriote.
Valeriote’s own disclosure lists PH&N Balanced Fund, which includes PH&N U.S. Equity Fund Series O, which holds Oracle and Tesla. Just like Glumac, Valeriote holds these investments as a very small part of large funds that he does not control.
However, Valeriote also directly owns shares in Sens Ai. Valeriote spoke about AI in the legislature just two weeks ago.
Ironically, Valeriote and Rob Botterell appear in Lowan’s video implying Glumac is in a conflict and encouraging him to check with the Commissioner. As is common with Ministers and MLAs, Glumac did that on January 9th.
The Commissioner wrote: “I am therefore satisfied that no concerns are likely to arise under the Members’ Conflict of Interest Act in relation to your holdings in AIQ.” That opinion is available here.
Has Valeriote consulted with the Commissioner about his direct shares?
Garry Begg, B.C. NDP Caucus Chair:
“It’s disappointing to see the Green Leader attack others over the exact same thing that Jeremy Valeriote is doing. Unfortunately, this kind of misleading attack against the B.C. NDP has ramped up since they canceled their working agreement with us. While the Greens focus on social media attacks against us, we’re focused on stopping Conservative cuts, and on addressing the things people care about – like bringing down the cost of housing, and hiring and training thousands of doctors and nurses. Our work is having an impact, but we can’t stop now.”