Clerk of Privy Council Office testifying today before Ethics Committee – PCO unjustifiably claims it can’t respond to access-to-information request filed in October until mid-March

One of dirty dozen loopholes in federal ethics law means screens allow PM to secretly participate in almost all decisions that affect his investments in Brookfield and 655+ other companies, and his blind trust isn’t actually blind

Carney has as many financial conflicts of interest as Trump – law should be changed to require Carney to sell investments to remove the conflicts

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
Wednesday, November 19, 2025

OTTAWA – Today, as Privy Council Clerk Michael Sabia will be testifying before the House Ethics Committee this afternoon at 4:30 pm, Democracy Watch revealed the letter it received on November 13th from the federal Cabinet Privy Council Office (PCO) extending PCO’s legally required mid-November disclosure deadline to March 14, 2026 for responding to an Access to Information Act (ATIA) request DWatch filed in October.

DWatch’s request asks for disclosure of a small set of records that provide basic details that PCO officials must have on hand every day if they actually enforce Prime Minister Mark Carney’s “ethics screen” – details that will reveal that the screen is actually a loophole-filled smokescreen.

DWatch’s ATIA request applies to the time period from when the loophole-filled “ethics screen” came into force that federal Ethics Commissioner Konrad von Finckenstein approved for Prime Minister Carney until the date PCO considers that it received the ATIA request.  The exact date the Ethics Commissioner-approved screen came into force has not been publicly disclosed, but it was made public on July 11th.

DWatch’s request asks for records that contain the following information:

1. The date the Ethics Commissioner-approved ethics screen came into force;

2. The identities of anyone who has assisted Carney’s Chief of Staff and the Clerk of the PCO to enforce the screen;

3. How many discussions, decision-making processes and votes during the time period of July-October 2025 were flagged for review under the screen, and;

4. How many discussions, decision-making processes and votes during the time period of July-October 2025 that did Carney not participate in under the screen.

The PCO claims it needs four more months to do a “consultation” but this is completely unjustifiable because DWatch’s request is only for statistics and the identities of public officials (both of which the PCO must have in hand, and both are required to be disclosed), and DWatch’s request specified that it is not requesting anyone’s personal information (s. 19 of the ATIA) or any company’s or others’ “third-party” proprietary information (s. 20 of the ATIA), and those are the only two justifiable reasons for a consultation.

The PCO is also unjustifiably violating the ATIA by delaying until January the release of details that will show that Mark Carney’s initial, self-approved two ethics screens were also loophole-filled, unethical smokescreens, as DWatch revealed in the October 16, 2025 news release.

PM Carney’s so-called “ethics screen” (which only applies to 103 additional companies that are within or connected to the Brookfield conglomerate of companies) is 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.

As Democracy Watch detailed to the House Ethics Committee on October 1st during its ongoing review of the federal government ethics law, the loophole is one of a “dirty dozen” loopholes in the law (the Conflict of Interest Act).  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.  Almost all (99%) of decisions that the PM and Cabinet make apply generally or to a broad group of people or entities.  Click here to see the loopholes in the definition of “private interest” in section 2 of the Act.

The screens also all hide the fact that the public office holder is not recusing themselves from decisions even when they have a conflict of interest.  Subsection 25(1) of the Act requires a public declaration of recusal every time an office holder recuses themselves, but former Ethics Commissioner Mary Dawson created ethics screens to allow office holders to get around that requirement.  They set up a screen, claim that they are recusing themselves from all decisions, and then can hide the fact that they are not actually recusing themselves from decisions that affect their financial or other interests.

“The federal Cabinet office can try to hide from reality for the next few months, but eventually it will reveal details that will show that, because of a huge loophole in Canada’s federal government ethics law, Prime Minister Carney’s ethics screen is an unethical, loophole-filled smokescreen as it allows him to participate in almost all decisions that affect the companies he is invested in, and it hides the fact that he is participating in those decisions even though he has a financial conflict of interest and can profit from the decisions,” said Duff Conacher, Co-founder of Democracy Watch.

Click here to see these and a “dirty dozen” other loopholes in the federal Conflict of Interest Act that allow Cabinet ministers and other top government officials to secretly profit from their decisions.

Democracy Watch also again repeated its call for Prime Minister Mark Carney to sell his investments, including arranging to have Brookfield and other companies buy out his stock options, as the only effective way to end the serious, unethical and damaging financial conflicts of interest caused by his investments in more than 550 companies, and connections to 103 other companies through the Brookfield conglomerate of companies.

PM Carney’s so-called “blind” trust isn’t blind at all because he knows what he put in the trust, chose his own trustee, was allowed to give the trustee instructions such as “don’t sell anything” and the trustee is also allowed to give him regular updates.  In addition, Mr. Carney owns stock options in Brookfield Corporation and Brookfield Asset Management that he can’t sell for years, so he knows for sure that he has those investments.  Click here to see the list of shares in 550+ companies that Mr. Carney owns.

In 1987, Justice Parker of the Parker Commission on conflicts of interest recommended that top politicians and government officials be required to sell all investments, and that blind trusts be banned because they are an ineffective sham.  Click here to see Justice Parker’s report (pages 343-361 (esp. 360-361)).

“Prime Minister Carney has as many financial conflicts of interest as Trump, and his blind trust isn’t blind at all because he knows what stocks he put in it, including stock options he will definitely own for years, and he chose his own trustee and was allowed to give the trustee instructions such as don’t sell anything, and his trustee is allowed to give him regular updates on his investments,” said Conacher.  “The only way to resolve the conflicts is for the Prime Minister to sell his investments.”

What could PM Carney (and other Cabinet ministers and top government officials) do after selling all their investments?  They are paid well compared to most Canadians, in the top 1-5% of annual salaries, and they have among the most generous benefits and pension plans of any employees in Canada.  So, instead of enriching themselves further through investing in private businesses that cause financial conflicts of interest that taint their decision-making and policy-making, they can buy government bonds or guaranteed investment certificates or other similar financial products that are not connected to any specific business, and that offer a fixed rate of interest for the time period that they remain in office, and then when they leaves office they can again invest in shares and mutual funds and other financial products for investing in businesses.

Many other changes are needed to other federal laws to ensure democratic good government, including:

•  Closing all the loopholes in the Conflict of Interest Code for Members of the House of Commons that allow for secret, unethical activities by MPs, and extend key rules in that code to apply to the staff of MPs (Click here to see details);

•  Closing all the loopholes in the Ethics and Conflict of Interest Code for Senators that allow for secret, unethical activities by Senators, and extend key rules in that code to apply to the staff of Senators (Click here to see details);

•  Closing all the loopholes that allow for secret, unethical lobbying (Click here to see details);

•  Decreasing the donation limit in the Canada Elections Act to $75 (as the current annual individual donation limit of $3,500 (which increases by $50 each year) is essentially legalized bribery for those who can afford to make a top donation) (Click here to see details);

•  Closing huge excessive secrecy loopholes in the federal Access to Information Act and strengthening enforcement (Click here to see details);

•  Preventing, prohibiting and penalizing foreign interference (Click here to see a policy paper on key needed measures);

•  Strengthening the whistleblower protection law (Click here to see details).

FOR MORE INFORMATION, CONTACT:
Duff Conacher, Co-founder of Democracy Watch
Tel: (613) 241-5179
Cell: 416-546-3443
Email: [email protected]

Democracy Watch’s Government Ethics Campaign and Open Government Campaign