First Week Back: Shady Liberal Appointment

Read my thoughts on Mark Carney joining the Liberal Party as an economic advisor. Plus, Conservatives table a motion of non-confidence against the government, presenting your petitions, and more.

Welcome back to Resuming Debate. Parliament returned this week after its summer recess, and there is no shortage of topics to write about, so let's dive in.

---

The curious case of well-known Canadian Mark Carney publicly flirting with joining the Liberal government has been settled with an opaque, obscure, and conflict-laden appointment to a partisan political party task force on economic growth. This is not a government appointment but, in fact, a political appointment to head the Liberal Party of Canada’s Task Force on Economic Growth. This is unusual for many reasons, including the widely debated possibility of Mark Carney running as a Liberal leadership candidate, his chairmanship of a major investment firm in Brookfield, and his numerous corporate interests that would place him in a conflict of interest if he were to be appointed to a government role.

Who is Mark Carney?

Mark Carney served as the Governor of the Bank of Canada between 2008-2013 and was also the Governor of the Bank of England between 2013-2020. He is chairman of Brookfield Asset Management and is chairman of Bloomberg Inc. He has business interests in Watershed, Stripe Inc., Macro Advisory Partner, and Entropy Inc. He also chaired the International Financial Stability Board, which was formed by the G20 and is based in Switzerland. He worked at Goldman Sachs early in his career and spent time as a civil servant in the Canadian finance department. He continues still today as the United Nations Special Envoy for Climate and Finance. He is a big promoter and supporter of carbon taxes. He is also a promoter of the environment, social, and governance fads or ESG-forced rules on publicly traded companies that often direct how private sector funding can be allocated. It has become more controversial as bad investments driven by social justice goals instead of profit has cost shareholders dearly across North American and elsewhere. His partisan activities have only increased in the past couple of years, especially when it became evident in Canada that the NDP-Liberal coalition government was struggling to maintain public support and the cherished policies he liked, such as the carbon tax and government-directed funding to the winners of government largesse would end in a majority conservative government. I did a fairly thorough search of public information and could not find an instance where Mark Carney doorknocked, made phone calls, or participated in political activities at the ground level that political parties seek primarily in their job hires when staffing their offices. It’s a curious lack of direct political volunteerism.

Why should you care?

Residents of Calgary Shepard should care because the Liberal government has obviously appointed a future candidate for their party and to the prime ministership of this country to a partisan and political role to explicitly avoid the conflict of interest rules that apply to all public office holders and their staff. This is an intentional attempt to avoid the law. Mark Carney has no political experience that I am aware of as a staffer, a campaign manager, a financial agent, or any other political role. So why would the Liberal Party of Canada appoint him to such a role? He has no security clearance to obtain economic data and protected financial information from the finance department. Or does he? It was reported in the Toronto Star on September 6th, that quote “… Mr. Carney will advise the party on an economic productivity plan, one that could inspire the Grits’ platform or government policy.” This exact latter reference to government policy should give everyone pause. It was not refuted by the Liberal finance minister’s office or anyone else who speaks on behalf of the Liberal government. If Mr. Carney is doing government work, then he should be a government appointee and be subjected to the same rules as any other ministerial adviser.

Rules already exist in the Conflict of Interest Act that cover what ministerial advisers can and must do in order to avoid the perception as well as real conflicts of interest. The definition covers full-time and part-time work arrangements that give policy, program, or financial advice regardless of how compensation, if any, is available for that ministerial adviser. Mr. Carney’s appointment can only be judged to be an obvious and blatant attempt to do a workaround of the conflict of interest rules that exist to protect Canadian taxpayers from abusing the public trust. The requirement on all advisers is to disclose potential conflicts of interests, accept ethics screens imposed upon them, recusals from decision-making, and disclosure of all controlled assets, liabilities, and outside activities.

The digital Canadian business and tech newsroom journal called Logic reported that Carney’s investment firm, Brookfield, is seeking billions from taxpayers and Canadian pension funds. This is part of an initiative started in Liberal Budget 2024, which I voted against, to have Canadian pension funds be forced to invest in more Canadian assets despite the poorer returns to pay for pensions. The discussions publicly reported so far are that a $50 billion fund is being set up with $36 billion originating from Canadian pension funds and $10 billion from taxpayers, and Brookfield would commit $4 billion. Again, Mr. Mark Carney is the Brookfield chairman, and his firm stands to gain a three percent commission fee on the amounts received from the Canadian taxpayer. Carney stands to gain substantially if these financial arrangements proceed, and he now enjoys a formal role in the Liberal Party of Canada that gives him regular access to government officials and decision-makers to give them advice on government policy, as per the Toronto Star quotation.  

At a time when Canadians are struggling to put food on the table and make their mortgage or rent payments, the Trudeau Liberals are attempting to avoid direct public scrutiny of a prominent Canadian they selected for a role with quasi-government purpose and functions. With all of Carney’s conflict of interests coming to light, I and fellow conservative MPs are calling on him to either resign as an economic advisor to the Liberal Party or to be appointed to a role within the government so that he will have to publicly disclose all his financial interests. Common Sense Conservatives are also calling Carney to appear at the required parliamentary committee, which he has frequently dodged, to explain to Canadians his financial interests and his long-advocated policies that would devastate the paycheques of Canadian workers.

Below is a letter from Conservative MP Michael Barrett that demands the Liberal government to stop shielding Carney from disclosure laws.

---

If you have not heard the news already, the NDP has exited its supply and confidence agreement with the Trudeau Liberals. While the NDP should have never entered this coalition deal with the Liberals in the first place, their exit returns confidence votes in Parliament to be decided on a case-by-case basis. Their two year record is one of making life more unaffordable for Canadians by raising the carbon tax by 23 percent, hiking food, gas, and heating costs. The Liberals enacted this raise at a time when a record number of Canadians were visiting food banks because they could not afford to feed themselves, and the NDP, who pretended to advocate for Canadian workers, willingly agreed to this hike in workers. So, when the NDP announced they were exiting their agreement with the Liberals earlier this month, it signaled that there was a possibility they were ready to put their money where their mouth is and finally oppose the Liberals for their costly policies.

Conservatives have offered a votable non-confidence motion in a very simple 12-word sentence, giving the NDP and its leadership the opportunity to back up their tough words with actions. The motion stated:

“The House has no confidence in the Prime Minister and the Government.”

The NDP responded later that they would not vote with the Conservatives on this motion, meaning the NDP-Liberal coalition is back on. The announcement of tearing up the coalition supply and confidence agreement seems to have been nothing more than a staged photo-op for the by-election. As disappointing as it is, I am going to be working hard to convince NDP MPs that it is time to let the Canadian voting public have a say and pass judgment on the performance of the NDP-Liberal government these past three years.

---

The first week back into session was busy. The parliamentary immigration committee is debating a motion to call on the NDP-Liberal government to have a carbon tax election. As you will see in the video I have posted below, I called out the Liberal members for championing their daycare program because their government’s intervention in a provincial issue has led to a reduction of daycare services not only in Calgary but across the country. In fact, I know many daycare programs within the city that are going out of business because of the Liberal's failed plan. Liberal MPs were also touting their school lunch program in committee, but as I pointed out, not one child has been fed through their national program. Private non-profit organizations are feeding more children than this government is. The main issue that Liberal MPs and NDP MPs must face directly with their own constituents is the carbon tax that raises the costs of everyday goods while adding to the misery of working Canadians.

I have talked to Liberal voters in Calgary, and they are just as frustrated as others, to the point where they do not know if they can trust their own party anymore. As I said in my remarks, “You earn the votes.” I am confident enough to face my constituents with my voting record in Parliament and our ideas to better the lives of residents in the future. Take a listen to the debate at committee.

---

This week, I tabled 8 more petitions from Calgary Shepard residents, contributing to the numerous petitions I’ve already brought forward in Parliament. Each petition reflects the concerns of our community, and I’m proud to represent the issues that matter to you. Whether it’s about local priorities or national policies, your voice is important, and I encourage you to share the issues you care about. My office is always here to help turn your ideas into petitions, and together we can ensure that these concerns reach the floor of Parliament.

Let’s work together to make sure your voice is heard and that your concerns are addressed.

---

One of the lesser known and often forgotten duties is offering tours of Parliament to residents of the riding as well as in this week’s case, rare disease families and patients. I toured Eric Morden this past week, a senior student at Carleton University, pursuing a Bachelor of Science in Biology with a Minor in Disability Studies. Eric lives with Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy, and his experience with Duchenne fuels his passion for advocating for new treatment approvals in Canada.

Residents of Calgary Shepard visiting Ottawa who wish to tour Parliament can always reach out to me at Tom.Kmiec@parl.gc.ca. I am more than happy to personally arrange a tour of the parliamentary precinct for you.