Privy Council Clerk sold Brookfield shares to avoid perceived conflict; Carney kept his

Privy Council Clerk Michael Sabia told MPs on Wednesday that he sold his personal shares in Brookfield Corporation to avoid the appearance of a conflict of interest

Source: pe-insights.com

Privy Council Clerk Michael Sabia told MPs on Wednesday that he sold his personal shares in Brookfield Corporation to avoid the appearance of a conflict of interest, even as Prime Minister Mark Carney continues to hold investments in Brookfield-linked funds, including one registered in the Cayman Islands.

Appearing before the Standing Committee on Access to Information, Privacy and Ethics, Sabia said he divested from Brookfield to “simplify” his duties as Canada’s top public servant and to protect the office of the Prime Minister from ethical complications.

“I decided to sell those shares because I am an administrator,” Sabia said. “It was simpler. It was more practical not to invest in Brookfield given the Prime Minister’s position and given my role is to protect the Prime Minister and institutions against the perception of a conflict of interest.”

The sale was recorded in a November 3 filing with the Office of the Conflict of Interest and Ethics Commissioner. Sabia previously held executive roles at Brookfield Asset Management, the same company where Carney served as chair until January 2025.

Sabia maintained that his decision was a matter of practical optics, not legal obligation.

“It’s not a matter of a conflict of interest. It was just to simplify things,” he said.“ It was clear Brookfield would be at the heart of many of my decisions. In order to simplify those decisions, I decided it would be simpler to sell.”

Conservative MP Michael Cooper noted that Carney still draws income from the Brookfield Global Transition Fund, a multi-billion-dollar clean energy investment vehicle that he helped create and registered in the Cayman Islands.

“He picked the companies. He knows what public policy decisions might influence the fund’s success and therefore his future bonus pay,” said Cooper.

Sabia admitted that despite being the administrator of Carney’s ethics screen, he had no knowledge of the fund’s specific holdings.

Conservative MP Shuvaloy Majumdar questioned the double standard.

“There are so many areas in which the Prime Minister is conflicted based on his holdings, and you had made decisions to uphold the integrity of the office. But the Prime Minister has not made the same decisions,” he said.

The committee hearings into Carney’s stock dealings were triggered by Conservative MP Michael Barrett’s successful House of Commons vote last month.

The motion came amid mounting questions about potential conflicts between Carney’s leadership of Brookfield and his current role in shaping government policy, where Brookfield holds significant assets, as well as the tax record of his ex-company.

During the French leadership debate in the lead-up to the April 28th election, Carney praised the Westinghouse Electric Company as a viable nuclear energy option, a company which is owned by Brookfield.

Earlier this month at a standing Committee meeting on Use of Offshore Tax Havens Canadian Labour Congress senior economist D.T. Cochrane accused Brookfield of being a tax cheater.

Cochrane said that “Brookfield has really been a masterclass in this tax avoidance when you look at what their effective tax rate is versus what you’d expect them to pay based on the combined provincial and federal income tax rate”.