Liberal Party of Canada leadership candidate Mark Carney speaks to a gathering of party supporters at a campaign event at the McMaster Innovation Park, in Hamilton, Ont., on Feb. 18.Ron Poling/The Canadian Press
The Conservative Party is calling on Liberal leadership candidate Mark Carney to proactively disclose any potential financial conflicts of interest, warning that existing rules won’t ensure such information is made public before a potential spring federal election campaign.
In a public letter and Parliament Hill news conference Tuesday, Conservative ethics critic Michael Barrett said the timelines in the existing ethics rules for cabinet ministers and the prime minister would give Mr. Carney up to four months after becoming PM before such a disclosure is made public.
The perception that Mr. Carney is the front-runner in the Liberal leadership race was strengthened Tuesday with the release of new fundraising figures, showing him well ahead both in terms of amounts raised and total number of contributors.
Mr. Carney has pledged to follow all existing rules, but the Conservatives say that’s not enough given the potential for a quick turnaround between the Liberal Party announcing its new leader on March 9 and a federal election campaign launch shortly after.
“To be clear, the rules weren’t designed for a situation like this,” Mr. Barrett told reporters Tuesday.
Mr. Carney is not currently subject to any federal ethics rules as he is not an elected MP, nor is he a public-office holder.
In an interview broadcast Sunday on the CBC’s Rosemary Barton Live, Mr. Carney played down any potential for conflicts of interest and said he would follow all of the rules.
Mr. Carney said most of the boards that he was a member of in recent years were philanthropic organizations.
“If I am elected Liberal Leader, of course, I’m going to immediately subject myself to all the ethics guidelines, conflicts-of-interest guidelines, other guidelines,” he said.
Emily Williams, a spokesperson for Mr. Carney’s campaign, repeated that view in a statement Tuesday and did not directly respond to Mr. Barrett’s recommendation. She also criticized Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre for lacking work experience outside of politics.
“As leader, he will work hard to earn a seat in the House of Commons, where he is committed to complying with all applicable ethics rules and guidelines to ensure that his previous experience does not create any real or perceived conflicts. If Mr. Poilievre had any experience outside of partisan politics, we would call on him to meet these same standards,” she said.
Mr. Carney announced in January that he had resigned from Brookfield Asset Management Ltd. and a number of other business roles in order to pursue the Liberal Party leadership.
The former governor of the Bank of Canada and the Bank of England also said at that time that he stepped down as chair of the board of media and financial data company Bloomberg LP; the board of payments processor Stripe Inc.; an advisory board for investment giant PIMCO; and as UN Special Envoy for Climate Action and Finance and co-chair of the Glasgow Financial Alliance for Net Zero, or GFANZ.
The Conflict of Interest Act, a 2006 law that outlines the ethics rules for federal public-office holders, gives individuals subject to the act up to 60 days after taking office to make a confidential report to the ethics commissioner.
The confidential report must include a description of their direct and contingent liabilities, a breakdown of all sources of income over the past 12 months, their charitable work over the past year and “any other information” the commissioner considers necessary.
In addition, there is a 120-day deadline to make a public declaration of assets and outside activities, subject to some exemptions, and sign off on a summary statement to be posted on the commissioner’s website.
The conflict-of-interest rules also describe how a public-office holder should place certain assets under a blind trust if necessary.
Liberal campaign fundraising figures posted on the Elections Canada website Tuesday, which are current as of earlier this month, show Mr. Carney raised $1.9-million from 11,260 donors. Karina Gould is second with $236,075 raised from 1,375 people, followed by Frank Baylis with $227,442 raised from 188 contributions. That is just ahead of Chrystia Freeland, with $226,661 raised from 332 people. Ruby Dhalla is fifth, with $144,880.90 raised from 109 people.
However, the figures do not account for the fact that some campaigns relied more heavily on raising funds through the party, which can create a delay and affect how funds are reported.
Ms. Freeland’s campaign issued a statement saying it has in fact raised nearly $600,000 from more than 2,000 Canadians.
“Today’s Elections Canada data doesn’t tell the whole story,” the statement said.