Michael Higgins: Mark Carney's ethical guardrails more of a smokecreen

National Post

15-07-2025

If Prime Minister Mark Carney is truly serious about making sure he does not breach the Conflict of Interest Act then he is going to be exiting cabinet meetings on a regular basis.
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Carney has pledged to literally leave the room if a discussion starts involving matters that he has placed behind a conflict-of-interest screen.
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But the 103 companies behind that screen are extensive and have tentacles stretching far and wide in the business world.
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And it is not just the screen that is problematic, but also a blind trust in which Carney has shares in hundreds of different companies, a full 16 pages worth, everything from Adobe through to Zoom Communications.
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Such is the extent of Carney's business dealings that no matter how scrupulous and ethical he tries to behave, the man is bound to breach the Conflict of Interest Act in some way.
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However, worryingly, Carney in his statement to the ethics commissioner's office, has inserted certain caveats that could act as loopholes.
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Carney has agreed to put a conflict-of-interest screen between himself and investment firm Brookfield Asset Management, Brookfield Corporation, financial services company Stripe Inc. and another 100 companies owned or controlled by them.
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Before running for the Liberals, Carney was chairman of Brookfield Asset Management, a company that loudly boosts about all the investments under its umbrella.
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'We are one of the world's largest infrastructure investors,' says the Brookfield website. 'We are a large-scale global investor focused on acquiring high-quality businesses that provide essential products and services,' it adds.
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With $1 trillion of assets under management, Brookfield has its fingers in a lot of pies.
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And when it comes to Brookfield, Carney has always been cagey and defensive.
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When asked in March about Brookfield moving their headquarters to New York from Toronto, the prime minister essentially said it had nothing to do with him — before it was revealed he played a key part in the decision.
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For the record, as National Post reported, Brookfield's annual report said Carney was entitled to 209,300 stock options at $35.13 each and 200,000 options at $40.07 each, for a market value of more than $6.8 million as of Dec. 31, 2024.
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It was also in March that the prime minister took umbrage at reporters questioning him about conflicts of interests.
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'I'm complying with all the rules,' said Carney.
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The CBC's Rosemary Barton pressed the prime minister saying, 'For a guy who has spent most of his life in the private sector, there's no possible conflict of interest in your assets? That's very difficult to believe.'
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'Look inside yourself, Rosemary. You start from a prior of conflict and ill will,' replied Carney with a comment that tended more towards the condescending than the introspective.
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But Barton hit the nail on the head. It will be difficult for Canadians to believe that Carney is not in some way in a conflict of interest because of his extensive business dealings. And it will be more difficult now we know just how vast and sprawling those dealings are.
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'This screen will prevent me from giving preferential treatment to any of the Companies while I exercise my official powers, duties, and functions as a reporting public office holder,' says Carney in a statement to the ethics commissioner.
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But the very next paragraph raises two very serious concerns.
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'This screen is administered by my Chief of Staff and by the Clerk of the Privy Council,' says Carney.
Marc-André Blanchard, the chief of staff, and Michael Sabia, the Clerk to the Privy Council, were both hired by Carney.
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Having people so intimate with the prime minister running the screen is troublesome, but the paragraph goes on to insert a major loophole for Carney.
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'I may, however, participate in a discussion or decision on a matter that is of general application or that affects the Companies' interests as a member of a broad class of persons unless those interests are disproportionate to the other members of the class,' says Carney.
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Who decides whether something is of a general application? Presumably Carney or one of his minions. Who decides whether the interests are disproportionate? Probably the prime minister and his inner circle.
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'The loophole is that as long as the decision applies generally or affects a broad group of people or entities, then PM Carney is allowed to participate in the decision even though it will affect a business he is invested in, and even though he can profit from the decision,' says a statement from Duff Conacher, co-founder of Democracy Watch, an organization devoted to government accountability.
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This is no way to run a conflict-of-interest screen. Canadians are supposed to be able to trust public officials are not abusing their position.
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As the ethics commissioner makes clear, 'Canadians must feel confident that those officials do not use their public office for private gain. The things they do in their jobs should be to benefit the public, not themselves or someone they know. Competing interests must not interfere with their ability to be fair and objective.'
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In the event that someone in a meeting points out that Carney may be in a conflict of interest he has promised, 'to recuse myself from that matter by removing myself from the room where the discussion or decision is taking place.'
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But will he really leave?
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Conacher called the 'ethics' screen 'a loophole-filled, unethical smokescreen that allows him to participate in, and hide that he is participating in, almost every decision that affects the companies in which he is invested.'
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Conacher was also scathing of the so-called blind trust.