Cabinet will take majority control of all 26 Commons committees and no longer “play silly partisan games,” Government House Leader Steven MacKinnon said yesterday. The move effectively quashes all ethics investigations, subpoenas and questioning of reluctant witnesses: “That’s settled.”
Lots of ink has been spilled this past year about the quandary of Prime Minister Mark Carney’s sprawling past business dealings, significant investments and his many potential conflicts of interest, and a parliamentary committee unveiled some possible solutions this week.
Yet, most of these solutions are very unlikely to see the light of day.
The House standing committee on access to information, privacy and ethics unveiled its review of the Conflict of Interest Act on Thursday. It contains 20 recommendations to further strengthen the law, many of which are specifically tailored to deal with Carney’s minefield of potential conflicts given his role in setting policy and regulation that will affect businesses and markets in which he could have an interest.
The chair of the committee, Conservative MP John Brassard, said most members agreed there should be more stringent rules for the position of prime minister compared to other MPs, “because individuals with greater decision-making authority should be held and must be held to higher standards.”
The recommendations were supported by the Conservative and Bloc Québécois MPs, which for the moment form a majority of members on the committee. The Liberal members co-signed a dissenting report, which essentially rejects the committee’s recommendations.
“This is a very partisan report that was created to target a single person,” said the committee vice-chair, Liberal MP Linda Lapointe. “We will not let it go through,” she warned. ...
The committee is calling on the government to amend the Conflict of Interest Act to require anyone who holds the position of prime minister of Canada to sell all assets he or she controls within 60 days of assuming office.
Currently, the law requires “reporting public office holders,” such as federal cabinet ministers and parliamentary secretaries, to either sell their assets or put them in a blind trust. Carney chose the latter when he became prime minister.
Opposition parties have argued that does not go far enough, since Carney’s recent ties to Wall Street giant Brookfield Asset Management would mean that he could be in a near constant state of conflict of interest. Carney was chairman of the firm, which oversees over US$1 trillion in assets, and continues to hold options and deferred shares linked to its performance.
They have also raised concerns about him indirectly benefiting financially from a wide variety of government decisions related to Brookfield and its subsidiaries.
The report says that the law should be amended to ensure that “the prime minister, as a reporting public office holder, is fully divested from their controlled assets through sale, since placement in a blind trust does not constitute true divestment.”
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The Commons ethics committee yesterday recommended that Parliament close what critics called the “Carney loophole” by forcing the Prime Minister to sell millions in stock holdings. Liberal members of the committee objected: ‘It appeared to have been crafted with one individual in mind.’
Consider that this wasn't law before.
Free health care for illegal immigrants and rejected refugee claimants cost more than $43 million last year including free prescriptions and transportation to a doctor’s office, the Department of Immigration disclosed yesterday. Figures were made public at the request of Conservative MP Burton Bailey (Red Deer, Alta.) who said foreigners with no legal right to be in Canada received better care than many taxpayers: ‘People on bogus asylum claims are receiving health care many Canadians do not even receive.’
You bloody bastards @MarkJCarney! Depriving families of nutrients because “orange man bad” explains why people are really struggling to put healthy foods on their tables in Canada. You and your government full of corrupt scumbags really are a massive POS and are truly… https://t.co/3tHrRSXgts
— Laura Love (@Panopticonomy) April 24, 2026
Labour Minister Patty Hajdu made up a story about organ donations in attempting to justify a 2025 cabinet order quashing an Air Canada strike, Access To Information records show. It marked the second time Hajdu misled media over a strike ban: “Shipments of critical goods such as pharmaceuticals and organ tissue should continue.”
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