Angry in the Great White North
Another Liberal-tied trust and precisely timed profits
Sunday, December 11, 2005 at 07:18 AM

Read other posts by Steve Janke published by the National Post
Leader

AVirmani.jpg Cargojet Owner and CEO Ajay Virmani

Cargojet is a major supporter of the Liberal Party. Since 2003, the corporation has made $18,667 is donations the the Liberal Party, and only the Liberal Party.

The CEO and President of Cargojet, Ajay Virmani, has ties to the Liberal Party:

The Globe and Mail’s Jane Taber adds some interesting poop about the polluting plane--it's all about cronyism:

"The plane is owned by Ajay Virmani, a Toronto businessman, who last spring held a fundraising cocktail event at his lavish home for Mr. Martin. The Liberals leased his aircraft last year as well for their campaign. The NDP and Conservatives lease campaign aircraft from Air Canada. Mr. Virmani said that if he wasn't leasing his plane to Mr. Martin he'd be leasing it to someone else and it would still be flying around. He said there are 800 727s flying around today."

That event cost $5,000 a plate. I would have gone, but I had to wash my hair that day.

Virmani personally donated $10,000 to the Liberal Party in 2000.

Sales executive Jamie Porteous donated $10,000 to the Liberal Party in 2003. Chief Financial Officer Dan Mills also made a modest donation. All this is besides the lease and the lavish parties, of course.

Cargojet manages its public offering via an income trust fund. The history of recent trading is interesting.

On November 21, 12,725 units were traded.

On November 22, and 23, trading spiked at 39,112 and 47,157 units changing hands.

The price per unit before the announcement? $9.60.

The price per unit today? $10.00.

In the middle of November, the unit price was languishing at under $8.50. People were nervous about what the Liberal government had planned for income trusts:

Cargojet units rose 4 cents to close at $8.34 Friday on the Toronto Stock Exchange. That's down 15 per cent in the past month amid anxiety about the income trust sector, sparked by Ottawa's decision on Sept. 19 to halt advance tax rulings on new offerings, independent trust analyst Harry Levant said.

Virmani was actively involved in trying to influence Ralph Goodale:

Mr. Virmani, an influential fundraiser for the federal Liberals, said he has urged Finance Minister Ralph Goodale to protect existing trusts and preserve tax laws governing them while writing new rules for new entrants. "The government should grandfather the existing trusts for at least five to 10 years," he said. "If you want to change the rules, don't change them in the middle of the sixth inning."

Looking at this chart, it appears that someone got over their nervousness just in time.

cj.gif

Ajay Virmani owns 20% of Cargojet. Mills and Porteous own 5% each.

Though not as dramatic as the trading with Medisys, someone at Cargojet picked just to right time to grab a healthy chunk of units just before Ralph Goodale's office announced the favourable news on income trust taxation.

Main Story

Search for more opinions from Canadian bloggers on these related keywords