NDP leader has remortgaged his home 11 times since early 1980s
New Democratic Party leader Tom
Mulcair and his wife have repeatedly refinanced their home west of
Montreal, gradually increasing the debt on the property over a series of
11 mortgages, land records show.
Mulcair’s office will not explain why the couple have loaded more and more financing onto the West Island home they’ve lived in since the early 1980s, saying only that it’s a “private matter.”
It is unclear why Mulcair would need to refinance the modest two-garage home in Beaconsfield so many times, bumping the value of the mortgage from $58,000 to $300,000.
Before he became leader, Mulcair enjoyed a successful and well-paid career as a government lawyer and, later, a cabinet minister in the Quebec National Assembly. His wife, Catherine Pinhas, is a psychologist practicing in Montreal. Both their children are now adults with jobs — one is a police officer, the other an engineer.
Mulcair was hit with a judgment from a defamation case in 2005 after he accused former Parti Québécois minister Yves Duhaime of influence peddling. He was ordered to pay Duhaime $95,000, plus legal costs.
He left provincial politics in 2007 and ran for the NDP in a byelection later that year. Even then, he stood to collect on a pension from his years as an MNA. When he was elected that fall, he began earning an MP’s salary that was then set at $150,800.
But in January 2009, he and Pinhas financed the home for the 11th time. They took out a $300,000 mortgage with the Royal Bank of Canada and then paid off the previous $249,000 mortgage from three years earlier.
While there could be a simple explanation for the transactions, none is forthcoming from Mulcair’s office.
“Mr. Mulcair and his wife made these decisions for personal and family reasons,” said George Soule, Mulcair’s press secretary, in an email.
“They are part of their private life.”
If past opposition leaders are any example, Mulcair is likely to become the target of Conservative Party attack ads before the next election. As a New Democrat, his credibility as financial manager will likely figure into the critique.
The serial refinancing of a home does not necessarily indicate personal financial difficulties, however.
There are plenty of entirely legitimate reasons why someone would borrow against a home. He might want to draw on the accumulated equity to remodel, send a child to school, invest in the stock market, buy another home or cottage, or just get a better interest rate.
Other parties would have probably have looked into Mulcair’s property records as part of their due diligence, says former New Democrat strategist and media consultant Ian Capstick.
“Most certainly the Conservatives would know about this,” Capstick said. “Everything about your opponent that is in the public domain is fair game.”
But without more information, Capstick doubts that the mortgages would figure in an attack on the rookie party leader, as the personal finances of Canadian political figures are usually off-limits.
He notes, however, that politicians’ private lives were breached in two recent attacks — Public Safety Minister Vic Toews’ divorce file, which a Liberal party staffer leaked in small chunks by Twitter; and late NDP leader Jack Layton’s 1996 visit to a massage parlour, which was publicized by the Conservative-friendly Sun News Network in the final days of the last election campaign.
Mulcair’s office will not explain why the couple have loaded more and more financing onto the West Island home they’ve lived in since the early 1980s, saying only that it’s a “private matter.”
It is unclear why Mulcair would need to refinance the modest two-garage home in Beaconsfield so many times, bumping the value of the mortgage from $58,000 to $300,000.
Before he became leader, Mulcair enjoyed a successful and well-paid career as a government lawyer and, later, a cabinet minister in the Quebec National Assembly. His wife, Catherine Pinhas, is a psychologist practicing in Montreal. Both their children are now adults with jobs — one is a police officer, the other an engineer.
Mulcair was hit with a judgment from a defamation case in 2005 after he accused former Parti Québécois minister Yves Duhaime of influence peddling. He was ordered to pay Duhaime $95,000, plus legal costs.
He left provincial politics in 2007 and ran for the NDP in a byelection later that year. Even then, he stood to collect on a pension from his years as an MNA. When he was elected that fall, he began earning an MP’s salary that was then set at $150,800.
But in January 2009, he and Pinhas financed the home for the 11th time. They took out a $300,000 mortgage with the Royal Bank of Canada and then paid off the previous $249,000 mortgage from three years earlier.
While there could be a simple explanation for the transactions, none is forthcoming from Mulcair’s office.
“Mr. Mulcair and his wife made these decisions for personal and family reasons,” said George Soule, Mulcair’s press secretary, in an email.
“They are part of their private life.”
If past opposition leaders are any example, Mulcair is likely to become the target of Conservative Party attack ads before the next election. As a New Democrat, his credibility as financial manager will likely figure into the critique.
The serial refinancing of a home does not necessarily indicate personal financial difficulties, however.
There are plenty of entirely legitimate reasons why someone would borrow against a home. He might want to draw on the accumulated equity to remodel, send a child to school, invest in the stock market, buy another home or cottage, or just get a better interest rate.
Other parties would have probably have looked into Mulcair’s property records as part of their due diligence, says former New Democrat strategist and media consultant Ian Capstick.
“Most certainly the Conservatives would know about this,” Capstick said. “Everything about your opponent that is in the public domain is fair game.”
But without more information, Capstick doubts that the mortgages would figure in an attack on the rookie party leader, as the personal finances of Canadian political figures are usually off-limits.
He notes, however, that politicians’ private lives were breached in two recent attacks — Public Safety Minister Vic Toews’ divorce file, which a Liberal party staffer leaked in small chunks by Twitter; and late NDP leader Jack Layton’s 1996 visit to a massage parlour, which was publicized by the Conservative-friendly Sun News Network in the final days of the last election campaign.
Before
moving to the Montreal area, Mulcair and Pinhas lived in Cap Rouge,
outside of Quebec City, where he worked as a lawyer for the Quebec
ministry of justice. Mulcair took a job with Alliance Quebec. His wife
was listed in mortgage documents as an esthetician.
They paid $64,000 for the home in 1983, with a $56,000 mortgage from the Caisse Populaire du Lac St. Louis at 10.7 per cent interest — the going rate of the day.
Every few years, new financing with the Royal Bank of Canada was registered on the property with mostly increasing values as the amount owing rolled over.
The couple obtained loans in 1984, 1987, 1988, 1990, 1996, 1997, 2001, 2003, 2006 and 2009.
Nearly a year after the last transaction, Mulcair filed a report with the federal ethics commissioner, saying that he taken a line of credit with his wife from the Royal Bank.
Under the MP’s Code of Conduct, material changes in a member’s assets or liabilities must be reported to the ethics commissioner within 60 days.
The value of the line of credit is not specified.
Today, Mulcair earns $157,731 annually as an MP plus a $75,516 stipend as Leader of the Official Opposition. When in Ottawa, he lives for free at the official residence, Stornoway.
They paid $64,000 for the home in 1983, with a $56,000 mortgage from the Caisse Populaire du Lac St. Louis at 10.7 per cent interest — the going rate of the day.
Every few years, new financing with the Royal Bank of Canada was registered on the property with mostly increasing values as the amount owing rolled over.
The couple obtained loans in 1984, 1987, 1988, 1990, 1996, 1997, 2001, 2003, 2006 and 2009.
Nearly a year after the last transaction, Mulcair filed a report with the federal ethics commissioner, saying that he taken a line of credit with his wife from the Royal Bank.
Under the MP’s Code of Conduct, material changes in a member’s assets or liabilities must be reported to the ethics commissioner within 60 days.
The value of the line of credit is not specified.
Today, Mulcair earns $157,731 annually as an MP plus a $75,516 stipend as Leader of the Official Opposition. When in Ottawa, he lives for free at the official residence, Stornoway.
© Copyright (c) The Ottawa Citizen
7 comments:
Right on Bruce...
Maybe the guy should try eating Meow Mix like the rest of us former trust investors--------he could save a bundle.
Dr Mike Popovich
How long do you think before Mulcair puts a mortgage on Stornaway?
This is totally consistent with NDP finance policy. The NDP do not believe in living within your means. They think it is OK for governments to spend far more than they bring in. Tom is just implementing NDP policy into his personal life. Good luck with that!
Brent, if Mulcair could have pulled off placing a mortgage on Stornaway, it would have been done yesterday. I heard from some comic that in order to be the brightest bulb in the room you must surround yourself dim ones. I think that's why to some, Mulcair looks brilliant. Hahaha, what a laugh, it would have been funny had he not screwed so many with his stupidity.
Well Muclair has been on this mortgage bubble for a long time. The same bubble which is fueling Canada's economy today ! My question is this home looks so plain lets dig deeper and look at the appraisals and mortgage approval processes for this home !!
But wait they are probably blacked out !!
JC
Muclair won the NDP leadership Lottery he also won the Stornoway Home Lottery as well !!!
Lucky twice is a fix !!
So why does Muclair care if Income trusts were killed by his party support of the Flaherty income trust fraud decision ?
Mr Muclair had mortgage refi
on the brain !!
MC
Hey Bruce,
Isn’t it funny how these lawyers are put in change of other people's money? I mean look at the ambulance chaser Flaherty. What is it about law school that qualifies you to be a finance minster? Obviously nothing judging from the job both of these guys are doing.
Railhound
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