Michael Sabia to appear at ethics committee about Carney’s business ties

OTTAWA — The clerk of the Privy Council, Michael Sabia, is set to appear at the House of Commons ethics committee concerning the review of the Conflict of Interest Act but questions are expected to be focused on Prime Minister Mark Carney’s potential conflicts.

Sabia is one of two senior aides to Prime Minister Mark Carney who is authorized to administer his extensive conflict-of-interest screen that applies to over 100 corporate entities related to Brookfield Asset Management, Brookfield Corporation and Stripe Inc.

The other person authorized to administer this screen is Carney’s chief of staff, Marc-André Blanchard, who will be testifying at that same committee Thursday afternoon.

Carney’s sprawling business ties — and potential conflicts of interest as a result of those ties — have been under close scrutiny since he decided to run as Liberal leader.

Prior to entering politics, Carney was chairman of Brookfield Asset Management, which has US$1 trillion in assets under management, and also helped lead efforts to raise capital for two major Brookfield clean energy funds. He was also on Stripe’s board of directors.

On the day he was elected Liberal leader, he put all his assets, other than his personal real estate, into a blind trust. He has always maintained he went above and beyond what was required of him as he was to do so within 120 days of his appointment as prime minister.

But Conservatives have maintained that Carney’s situation is unique, because of the magnitude of his conflicts of interest, and should require him to divest his assets.

Former clerk of the Privy Council Michael Wernick has however warned against considering mandatory divestitures for politicians during the review of the act.

“My view is that we need more people with private-sector background in politics — not fewer,” he told the committee on Oct. 27.

National Post calevesque@postmedia.com

• Carney to recuse himself from dealings with over 100 companies in sprawling government conflict screen
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