Thread: President of the US of A

Originally Posted by Jimbo

So just on a technical note, maybe. If someone like Trump (an active businessman with active businesses) wins the presidency are they required to step down from those businesses or whatever?

James.

No, elected officials are not. A very good recent example is Berlusconi of Italy and all the problems that fell from his time in office. Essentially, any person running for office can continue to run their businesses from office if they choose to. There is always the risk of the appearance of impropriety and the political fallout (hearings etc) from that effort.

Employees, not elected, of the executive branch are supposed to eliminate any conflicts of interest. There are examples of some elected officials using blind trusts for their assets to show that they do not have conflicts of interest, but this is not used by any where near a majority of elected office holders.

There are guidelines laid out covering conflict of interest and elected officials on this side of the border.

See: Information archivée dans le Web | Information Archived on the Web

IIRC when Paul Martin was Prime Minister he had to set a blind trust wrt his interest in CSL, Canada Steamship Lines. Even then there was controversy Ethics, Paul Martin and the circle of CSL - The Globe and Mail .

Bob

Originally Posted by BobH

There are guidelines laid out covering conflict of interest and elected officials on this side of the border.

See: Information archivée dans le Web | Information Archived on the Web

IIRC when Paul Martin was Prime Minister he had to set a blind trust wrt his interest in CSL, Canada Steamship Lines. Even then there was controversy Ethics, Paul Martin and the circle of CSL - The Globe and Mail .

Bob

Yes - Paul Martin, the guy who complained about tax avoidance as he re-flagged all his ships to avoid tax...

Originally Posted by Phrank

Yes - Paul Martin, the guy who complained about tax avoidance as he re-flagged all his ships to avoid tax...

Yea, a very common practice in the shipping world. Avoiding taxes plays a very big part in big business as does/did the use of family trusts here.

Bob