What Conflict of Interest?!!!

"That's the largest scope I've ever heard of. I think that they're going to have to get creative to make administration of this screen efficient." 

"This is going to be a new challenge for this institution to monitor in a way that ensures public confidence. Someone in this position with this robust of a portfolio."

"If you have the chief of staff and the clerk watching for 103 different companies ... at all times, they're not going to get anything else done."

"So there's going to have to be a little bit of self-policing on his [prime minister Mark Carney's] part.

"[It is not immediately clear that represents a] disproportionate [interest]." 

Ian Stedman, government ethics specialist, associate professor York University

 

"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."

"I'm complying with all the rules." 

Prime Minister Mark Carney declaration

Prime Minister Mark Carney has put his financial assets into a blind trust, meaning he no longer has control over them. (Spencer Colby/The Canadian Press)

 

Canada's new Liberal prime minister who assured the electorate that his extensive private holdings would not interfere with the judgement he is beholden to practise as prime minister, and his conscience was clear that he would perform to the utmost high standard in the office of administering Canada's affairs were he to be successfully elected, has been outed. His previous experience as Governor of the Bank of Canada and of the United Kingdom, his chairmanship of Brookfield Asset Management with its $1 trillion in assets and his multiplicity of board member appointments would never interfere with his political obligations, he vowed.

 

Conflict of interest? Perish the thought! The screen of which he speaks is to prevent  him from involvement in "any official matters or decision-making processes" with the potential to further his pecuniary interests in his investments in the 103 companies revealed to complicate the promises he made pre-election. Mr. Carney's chief of staff, Marc-Andre Blanchard and Michael Sabia, Clerk of the Privy Council are to comprise the 'screen', two high-placed officials tasked with their own onerous duties.

 

During the election, Mr. Carney revealed he had set up a blind trust. "I actually don't own -- directly -- any stocks in these companies". "I own nothing but cash and personal real estate", he assured a doubtful but trusting electorate. Moreover, he stated, he had no financial connection to Brookfield Asset Management any longer and he had no knowledge of the details of what his blind trust consists of that might advance his or the interests of the 103 companies he is engaged with.

 

Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre speaks during a news conference in Ottawa on Monday, July 14, 2025. Photo by Adrian Wyld/The Canadian Press

 

Opposition Conservative leader Pierre Poilievre made quick work of digesting the newest revelations, accusing the prime minister of having committed "numerous falsehoods" regarding his financial portfolio following the ethics commissioner's opinion on a report relating to the conflicts of interest involving no fewer than 103 companies he is financially linked to. Leading Mr. Carney to agree with the commissioner's advice/ruling to establish an extensive conflict-of-interest screen, recusing himself from any discussions involving any of them. 

 

Never before has Canada been faced with a prime minister saddled with such a bevy of potential conflicts. "Mr. Carney was not upfront or honest with Canadians", charged the opposition leader. The disclosure of assets contains 15 pages listing companies, of shares and share options owned by Mr. Carney held in an investment account managed by a third party or divested in a blind trust. Shares of North of 60 Advisors, Stripe, Partners Value Investments, Cultivo Land, Watershed Technology options and deferred share units of Brookfield Corporation and Brookfield Asset Management.

 

The Brookfield annual report reveals that Mr. Carney is entitled to 298,300 stock options and 200,000 options, with a market value of over $6.8 million with an expiration option date 2033 or 2034. Assets held by an investment account managed by a third party include shares from Airbub, Amazon, American Express, Apple, Blackrock, Coca-Cola, Costco, DoorDash, Lockheed Martin, Lululemon, Moderna, Netflix, Palantir Technologies, Pfizer and Uber. 

 

Westinghouse, one of the world's largest nuclear companies, with a majority ownership share acquired by Brookfield Asset Management while Mr. Carney was co-head of the investment fund, is one of the screens the prime minister will be subject to. During a leader's debate during the election, Carney name-dropped Westinghouse in praising nuclear energy; a slip that did not go unnoticed.

 

Prime Minister Mark Carney arrives for a meeting during the NATO Summit in The Hague, Netherlands on Tuesday, June 24, 2025. Photo by Sean Kilpatrick/The Canadian Press