Carney's ethics filing shows more than 100 entities under conflict-of-interest screen

Globe and Mail

a day ago

Prime Minister Mark Carney must recuse himself from discussions, debates, decisions or votes specifically pertaining to more than 100 corporate entities, newly released ethics documents show.
That includes Brookfield Asset Management Ltd., where he held a management role prior to entering politics, but also dozens of companies with ties to Brookfield, even if Mr. Carney personally has no role or direct financial interest.
'In all of his work for Canadians, the Prime Minister will continue to serve with the highest standards for integrity at all times,' spokesperson Audrey Champoux said in a statement.
The filings were released Friday in compliance with a deadline under the Conflict of Interest Act requiring public disclosure within 120 days of Mr. Carney becoming Prime Minister in March.
He had been pressed to make the information public ever since he launched his bid for leadership of the Liberal Party earlier this year.
Carney promises conflict-of-interest screen to prevent him from making decisions for companies he served
Mr. Carney came to federal politics after a high-profile career in the private sector, including a stint as board chair for Brookfield Asset Management Ltd., a US$1-trillion asset manager whose investments touch on numerous sectors.
Mr. Carney's critics had argued that his connections to the company potentially placed him in a conflict of interest − as Prime Minister, his decisions might not just benefit Brookfield, but also Mr. Carney personally through his own financial relationship with the company.
Mr. Carney resigned from his board positions at the start of his leadership campaign, saying if he won he'd begin the process of compliance with ethics law. During the subsequent federal election, he said he had set up ethics screens and put his assets in a trust.
But, he resisted calls to publicly disclose the scope of those screens or his holdings ahead of the legally required deadline.
As a public office holder, he must report assets, liabilities, income and activities to the Conflict of Interest and Ethics Commissioner, and then a statement of those holdings must be made public within 120 days.
Conflict-of-interest screens can in turn be proposed by the Ethics Commissioner as a preventive measure.
The screen means he can't be aware of or participate in any matters specifically involving the companies' interests, but may participate in discussions or decisions that are general in nature or could affect the companies' interests more broadly.
Mr. Carney was also required to divest of any assets that could be directly or indirectly affected by government decisions or policy. He opted to place them in a blind trust.
That means he no longer has control over how the holdings are managed.
Though the financial value of his holdings is disclosed to the Ethics Commissioner, that number is not made public.
In addition to his roles with Brookfield, he was a director of the board of payments processor Stripe Inc. and an advisory board for investment giant PIMCO, among other private-sector jobs.
The disclosures list hundreds of individual stocks held through an investment account.
They include many stocks found in a typical mutual fund or index fund sold to ordinary investors, such as Walmart, Starbucks, video conferencing company Zoom, and tech giants such as Microsoft and Amazon.com.
That investment account does not include many of the largest Canadian companies, including those in highly regulated industries, such as major Canadian banks, telecommunications companies or energy producers.
Mr. Carney also continues to own an interest in Brookfield Asset Management Ltd. He owns stock options and deferred share units in Brookfield and its parent company, Brookfield Corp., worth millions of dollars at current share prices, though their value fluctuates as Brookfield's stock rises or falls.
The disclosures reveal that he owns shares of Partners Value Investments LP, a fund through which Brookfield's most senior executives own a large block of Brookfield shares.
Those shares are typically only awarded to an exclusive group of Brookfield insiders, demonstrating the prominent position he held at the company.
The Prime Minister is eligible to take part in the 'notional long-term inventive plan' for the Brookfield Global Transition Fund, a US$15-billion pool of capital that Mr. Carney spearheaded that makes large investments in technologies such as carbon capture and storage, solar power and batteries, and nuclear services.
Mr. Carney could earn bonuses if it performs well. It is not clear if those incentives would be paid in cash, stock, or in carried interest − a cut of the fund's profits after it meets a certain threshold for investment gains.
Mr. Carney divided his conflict screen into three sections. One is companies where he had a management position or an oversight role. The second lists Brookfield portfolio companies in the Registry of Lobbyists.
The third section is described in the records as 'entities being screened out of an abundance of caution,' identified by the Ethics Commissioner as being Brookfield-related, 'even though I had no role in managing them, and no direct financial interest in them.'
The screen is administered by his chief of staff and by the Clerk of the Privy Council.
Even before the records were public, Mr. Carney was obligated to recuse himself from decisions that could place him in a conflict of interest. Those recusals must be made public within 60 days.
None are listed on the Ethics Commissioner's website.
A spokesperson for the opposition Conservatives said Friday that they were not officially commenting until they had a chance to fully review the records.