Loopholes in law mean PM’s blind trust isn’t actually blind, and his ethics screen is a loophole-filled, unethical smokescreen that allows him to secretly participate in almost all decisions that affect his financial interests in 655+ companies

Carney has as many financial conflicts of interest as Trump – only effective way to resolve the conflicts is for Carney to sell his investments

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
Wednesday, September 24, 2025

OTTAWA – Today, as the House Ethics Committee begins its review of the federal government ethics law for the first time since 2012, Democracy Watch called on Prime Minister Mark Carney to re-enact publicly the PM Code for ministers and their staff covering accountability, ethics, fundraising, relationships with lobbyists etc., and to work with all federal parties to close the huge loopholes in the law and strengthen enforcement and penalties.

The version of the Code on the PM’s website (en français) is from November 2015, with a Message to Ministers signed by former PM Justin Trudeau (see the link to it on the PM’s main site at the bottom of “The Ministry” dropdown menu as “Open Government” – en français on the PM’s main site at the bottom of the “Le ministère” dropdown menu as “Gouvernement ouvert”).

Does PM Carney’s failure since the election to re-enact the PM Code in his own name (and with the same strong wording it has now) mean that he plans to weaken or cancel the Code?

If PM Carney weakens or cancels the PM Code, it would eliminate very important ethics rules in the Code that the Ethics Commissioner has stated repeatedly are enforceable requirements that define in detail key measures in the federal government ethics law – the Conflict of Interest Act (COIA).

Most importantly, the PM Code has detailed rules that define the prohibition in the COIA on public office holders “improperly” furthering their own or others’ private interests in general and specific ways (ss. 4, 8 and 9 of the Act).  Under the PM Code, it is improper to do the following things, among other high ethical standards in the Code:

•  To be dishonest (Annex A (Part I));

•  To be in an apparent conflict of interest (Annex B);

•  To make decisions that are not in the public interest or not based on the merits (Annex A (Part I));

•  To participate in political activities in a way that may reasonably be seen to be incompatible with, or impair the ability to discharge, the office holder’s public duties (Annex A (Part II));

•  To fail to arrange their personal affairs in a way that exceeds the COIA’s conflict of interest prohibitions (Annex A (Part I)), and;

•  To act in a way that does not ensure that public confidence and trust in the integrity and impartiality of government are conserved and enhanced (Annex A (Part I) and Part II).

The PM Code also has rules that go beyond the COIA that apply to ministerial staff (Annex I) and prohibit them from acting in all the improper ways listed above and more.

Cancelling the PM Code, or weakening it in any way, would only add to Carney’s negligently weak record and attitude so far concerning government ethics, as he hid his financial investments from March until July despite a majority of voters wanting disclosure, and current loopholes in the COIA allow PM Carney to have investments in more than 550 companies, and to have a so-called “blind trust” that isn’t actually blind, and a so-called “ethics screen” that is a loophole-filled, unethical smokescreen that allows him to secretly participate in almost all decisions that affect his investments in the Brookfield conglomerate and more than 100 other connected companies.

“If Prime Minister Carney doesn’t re-enact the code for ministers in his own name, or weakens or cancels it, it will gut Canada’s already weak, loophole-filled government ethics law, and add to his negligently weak record and attitude so far concerning ethics,” said Duff Conacher, PhD (Law) and Co-founder of Democracy Watch.

The PM Code was first established by Liberal PM Jean Chrétien in 2002 as a supplement to another code covering ministers, and was re-enacted by Liberal PM Paul Martin in 2004 under the title “Responsible Government”.  Then, in 2007, after the COIA had been enacted, Conservative PM Stephen Harper re-enacted the Code in a different form and changed the title to “Accountable Government”.  PM Harper strengthened the Code in 2011 with the addition of a new, more detailed Annex A (covering political activities) and Annex B (covering fundraising and relations with lobbyists), which replaced former Annex G and Annex H.  In 2015, Liberal PM Trudeau changed the PM Code title to “Open and Accountable Government” and further strengthened it by adding new Annex I (setting out specific rules for ministerial staff) and Annex J (covering the use of social media).

In addition to re-enacting the PM Code in the same form it is in now, the Carney Liberals and all federal parties need to work together to close the huge loopholes in the COIA, and in the ethics code for MPs (some of which have been closed by Senators in the Senate Ethics Code, and almost all of which do not exist in the ethics code and ethics directive for federal government employees).

“Canada’s political ethics laws and codes for Cabinet ministers, their staff and top government officials are full of loopholes that allow them to profit financially from their decisions, and are weaker than the rules for senators and federal government employees, and as weak as the rules for backbench MPs, which makes no sense at all,” said Conacher. “All federal parties need to work together to finally close all the loopholes in the federal political ethics laws and codes that allow them and their staff to make unethical, self-interested decisions and actions, and to strengthen enforcement and penalties.”

And the only effective way to end the serious, unethical and damaging financial conflicts of interest caused by his investments is for PM Carney to sell his investments, including arranging to have Brookfield and other companies buy out his stock options (as recommended by Justice Parker in 1987 in his landmark report (pages 343-361 (esp. 360-361)) and also in the 1984 Starr-Sharp report).  Click here to see details.

“Prime Minister Carney has as many financial conflicts of interest as Trump, and his so-called blind trust isn’t blind at all, and his so-called ethics screen is an unethical smokescreen that allows him to secretly profit from his decisions, and so the only effective way to deal with these conflicts is for him to sell his investments in more than 655 businesses,” said Conacher.

Many other changes are needed to other federal laws to ensure democratic good government, including closing huge secret, unethical lobbying loopholes, 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), closing huge excessive secrecy loopholes in the federal Access to Information Act, strengthening the whistleblower protection law, and changing the way that the Ethics Commissioner and other democratic good government watchdogs are appointed (given MPs currently have a clear conflict of interest as they choose their own watchdogs) and banning re-appointments (as that gives a watchdog an incentive to please MPs in order to secure a re-appointment).

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