Carney to recuse himself from dealings with over 100 companies in sprawling government conflict screen
https://nationalpost.com/news/politics/mark-carney-conflict-of-interest
The screen means that Carney cannot be involved in 'any official matters or decision-making processes' that would further either his or the interests of the 103 companies
Prime Minister Mark Carney will have to recuse himself from any discussions directly involving Brookfield Asset Management, payment processing giant Stripe and dozens of companies owned or controlled by them as part of an extensive conflict-of-interest screen.
In a disclosure posted Friday afternoon on the Ethics Commissioner’s website, Carney said he had agreed with the watchdog’s office to set up a conflict-of-interest screen between himself and Brookfield Asset Management, Brookfield Corporation, Stripe Inc. and any of 100 other companies owned or controlled by them at the time he set up a blind trust to oversee his assets.
Before jumping into politics, Carney was chairman of Brookfield Asset Management, which has US$1 trillion in assets under management, and also helped lead efforts to raise capital for two major Brookfield clean energy funds. He was also on Stripe’s board of directors.
“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,” reads Carney’s declaration.
The screen means that Carney cannot be involved in “any official matters or decision-making processes” that would further either his or the interests of the 103 companies, many of which operate in the renewable energy and real estate sectors.
“That’s the largest scope I’ve ever heard of,” commented Ian Stedman, a government ethics specialist who previously worked for Ontario’s Integrity Commissioner.
“I think that they’re going to have to get creative to make administration of this screen efficient,” added Stedman, now an associate professor at York University.
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The screen will be administered by Carney’s chief of staff, Marc-André Blanchard, and clerk of the Privy Council, Michael Sabia, respectively. Continue…