The Liberal government has admitted that Prime Minister Mark Carney’s conflict of interest “screen” for Brookfield — where he holds millions in stock — does not block the corporation’s influence on government decisions. 

Instead, it simply diverts those files to another minister, one who serves at the pleasure of Carney himself.

The revelation came in response to Conservative MP Jeremy Patzer’s order paper question about the prime minister’s financial entanglements with Brookfield Corporation and Brookfield Asset Management.

Parliamentary Secretary Rachel Bendayan confirmed that Carney’s conflict screen, finalized on July 10 and made public on July 11, 2025, is overseen by his Chief of Staff, Marc-André Blanchard, and the Clerk of the Privy Council, Michael Sabia.

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Their job is to ensure Carney is not “made aware of, and does not participate in,” matters relating to Brookfield. The duo is hand-selected by the PM. 

Instead, any files subject to the screen are “marked as such and not provided to the Prime Minister.”

Those files are then passed along to another minister, who takes the lead on the decision. If an issue arises in cabinet, the vice-chair steps in to run the meeting, while the prime minister recuses himself.

A minister whose career advancement depends on Carney is unlikely to act independently on matters involving the very corporation that helped make him rich. As one observer put it, the so-called blind trust looks more like a polite fiction than a real barrier.

The government also disclosed that the conflict screen applies not only to Brookfield entities but also to additional companies listed in a confidential annex.