Terry Newman: Yes, it’s a problem Carney refuses to disclose financials

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Thursday morning in downtown Toronto, Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre told those gathered at a news conference that there’s currently a serious problem with Canada’s Conflict of Interest Act when it comes to party leadership candidates — specifically, Mark Carney, who will likely be crowned Liberal leader on Sunday, and eventually prime minister.

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Carney has not been tested politically, but holds two foreign passports and has refused to disclose any financial interests he holds, until he is legally required to do so. Unlike other leadership candidates, Carney has never held public office, so any potential conflicts of interests will go unexamined until he is prime minister. Poilievre proposes to close what he calls the “Carney loophole” that currently exists in the Conflict of Interest Act.

The 2006 act established conflict of interest and post-employment rules for public office holders. These rules are necessary to ensure that public servants are not exercising their power to further their own private interests or those of their relatives, friends or, say, former colleagues.

As it currently stands, the act requires a public office holder, including elected members of Parliament, to provide a confidential report to the ethics commissioner within 60 days of taking office, which would include a full report of assets, liabilities, as well as all income received during and after the 12 months leading up to assuming office. There is an even longer period, 120 days, before an office holder is required to disclose any public activities that might constitute a conflict of interest.

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But these rules simply weren’t made for the situation Mark Carney is in.

Although he’s been running for the leadership of the federal Liberal party, he does not currently have a seat, so he’s not yet officially a public office holder. The disclosure clock wouldn’t even begin to countdown on these rules for Carney until he’s appointed prime minister sometime after Sunday, meaning that it will be at least four months before his potential conflicts of interest will be made publicly available to Canadians.

A lot can happen in four months — an entire election can be held, won and governance can begin. This is unacceptable.

The Conservatives’ proposed amendment to the act would address this deficit by requiring party leadership candidates to disclose their financial assets to the ethics commissioner within 30 days of becoming an official candidate, regardless of whether they were a public office holder or not, and making them publicly available to Canadians within 60 days, instead of 120.

While this rule would apply to future party leadership hopefuls, it won’t affect Carney’s run for the leadership.

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While he’s not broken any rules by not disclosing his financial assets, you’d think that Carney would want to proactively disclose this information as soon as he threw his hat into the Liberal leadership contest on Jan. 16, to reassure elected members of the House of Commons, the press and Canadians that he does, in fact, have Canada’s best interests at heart.

After all, Carney is not just seeking to lead any party, his role as Liberal leader means he will become prime minister.

But no. Carney has declined, even though he has been pressed by various media outlets across the political spectrum to do just that. The Globe and Mail, which called the rules governing disclosures “far too lax,” criticized the former Bank of Canada governor for not proactively disclosing his financial interests and for making the excuse that he would follow “all the appropriate rules.”

When pressed last week, Carney side-stepped the question of proactively disclosing by arrogantly responding, “What you’re asking effectively is, ‘am I going to do more than others do?’ “

If Carney is the eminently qualified do-gooder with Canadians’ best interests at heart, as he presents himself, then why hasn’t he proactively disclosed his assets, financials and potential conflicts of interest? He’s likely to be coronated Sunday.

Is this what Carney thinks Canadians really want, a leader who thinks his business isn’t our business?

National Post
tnewman@postmedia.com
Twitter.com/TLNewmanMTL

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