Conservative leader Pierre Poilievre on Friday morning pledged to amend the Conflicts of Interest Act and crackdown on corrupt bureaucrats.
The announcement comes as Liberal leadership frontrunner Mark Carney, who has a streak of barring independent journalists from his press conferences, has been surrounded by scandal in recent weeks and has refused to disclose his corporate holdings.
The Tory leader will “end the sneaky ‘Carney Loophole’ and force leaders to disclose finances.”
This ‘Carney Loophole’ could allow the un-elected Carney to become prime minister for four months without having to disclose his financial interests to Canadians, “though they may oppose the interests of working Canadians,” the Conservatives have been consistently pointing out.
“The Conflict of Interest in Ethics Act will require anyone who becomes a leadership candidate for a registered federal party to disclose all their holdings to the Ethics Commissioner within 30 days and publish them publicly within 60,” Poilievre said at a press conference.
Poilievre’s commitment to weeding out corruption in Canada’s democracy includes putting forward legislation that “will require prime ministers and ministers to sell off all holdings that put them in a conflict of interest within 30 days of taking power.”
“That will put you back in charge of your government and bring home power to the people. It will ensure that our leaders work for you, not for greedy and corrupt interests,” said Poilievre.
“It will prevent our leaders from selling out our people for personal profit, and it will stop corrupt, immoral, elitist and globalist forces from pulling the strings of the people in charge — simply put, our leaders must put Canada first. “
“They must work for you, and that is what I will do. We will restore the Canadian promise that your hard work guarantees you a great life in a beautiful house on a safe street protected by brave troops under a proud flag in Canada.”
Poilievre called out Carney’s claim that he had no part in moving the company he chaired, Brookfield Asset Management, from Toronto to the US — a claim that has since been proved false, as documents show he instigated meetings on the matter.
Carney said he resigned as chair from Brookfield on January 16, when he announced his candidacy. He did not say whether he divested from the company.
“How could Carney negotiate with Trump if he sneakily still has shares in a US-headquartered company?” Poilievre asked."
"How could Carney support Canadian energy if it would compete with his foreign energy interests? How could he save jobs when one of his companies is laying off 1000 workers to pay out shareholders? Canadians deserve to know whether their prime minister is working against their best interests for their own profit.”