A federal agency flagged uncertain costs in a program subsidizing small, experimental modular nuclear reactors (SMRs), including $27.2 million for a Westinghouse Electric Canada prototype.

None other than Prime Minister Mark Carney is a shareholder in Westinghouse, according to Blacklock’s.

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A July 11 report by the Conflict of Interest Commissioner revealed Carney's financial interests, including 567 entities in a "blind" trust and another 103, like Stripe and Brookfield Asset Management, under an ethics "screen" to prevent conflicts of interest.

Westinghouse Electric is among the entities Carney must be screened from, according to the disclosure document. Brookfield majority-owns the company, which Prime Minister Carney praised during his campaign on April 16.

By 2023, the federal government had subsidized modular reactor research with $215 million, with the Canada Infrastructure Bank approving an additional $970 million in loans for small modular reactor development, alongside undisclosed tax credits for promoters.

Cameco, which owns 49% of Westinghouse, provides uranium for nuclear energy, and lobbied Carney on March 19, April 2, and June 27 (post-election). Brookfield Renewable Partners holds a 51% majority stake in the company, with the former receiving $27.2 million in 2022 for an SMR prototype.

Ethics filings revealed that Carney, who chaired Brookfield before his January 16 Liberal Party leadership bid, maintained Brookfield shares and nearly $10 million in unexercised stock options.

Carney claimed on March 17 to have complied with all conflict of interest disclosure rules, transferring stock to a blind trust: “I have stood up for Canada. I have left my roles in the private sector at a time of crisis for our country. I am complying with all the rules.”

Democracy Watch argues that Mark Carney’s “blind” trust isn't truly blind, as he knows its contents and receives updates. He also holds unsellable Brookfield stock options, linking him to continued corporate interests.

Nine companies in which the prime minister had financial interests have lobbied his office, according to the Investigative Journalism Foundation.

The 1987 Parker Commission, referenced by the watchdog, called blind trusts ineffective "shams" and recommended their ban.

SMRs produce more nuclear waste per unit of energy and need enriched uranium, which Canada lacks and must import (enter Cameco), unlike CANDU reactors that use natural uranium.

Critics, like former National Research Council scientist Dr. Susan O’Donnell, argue that a factory for micro small modular reactors is unjustifiable. She claims the energy demand to replace diesel in remote Canadian communities is too low for such a factory to be profitable.

While smaller, SMRs cost 70% more per unit, with uncertain overall costs, according to the Canada Energy Regulator. Canada plans to license North America's first commercial modular reactor factory in Darlington by 2030, as no country has yet produced one.