Conservative leader Pierre Poilievre on Tuesday drew public attention to a report that shows Mark Carney in October, while chair of Brookfield Asset Management, brokered a deal with Chinese bankers.
A month prior to Carney’s trip to China, then-Prime Minister Justin Trudeau made him chair of the Liberals’ Task Force on Economic Growth.
A report from the Telegraph, entitled Mark Carney meets [Chinese President Xi Jinping] as China woos the West, says Carney met with the People's Bank of China deputy director in October — two weeks later Brookfield secured a $256 million loan from the Chinese state-owned bank.
Carney has repeatedly refused to disclose his holdings in Brookfield. On Monday, he said “screens” have been put up around his investments and they are now in a blind trust.
“After Justin Trudeau named Mark Carney his economic advisor, giving him massive power over public policy in Canada, Mr. Carney went over for meetings in Beijing, where he has had separate talks with the Deputy Governor of the Chinese central bank,” Poilievre told reporters.
“Two weeks later, Brookfield got a quarter million dollar loan.”
Poilievre put forward a litany of questions surrounding the glaring conflict of interest.
“What did they talk about? What did Mr. Carney, in his role as Trudeau’s Economic Advisor, offer China?” said Poilievre.
“Why would he be having secret meetings with top government-controlled bankers getting a quarter billion dollar loan while he was supposed to be acting in Canada's interest as the prime minister's economic advisor?”
“Why would he be collaborating with a hostile foreign regime that we have since learned executed four Canadians and took numerous Canadians hostage for a lengthy period of time, and given that Mr. Carney knows that he still owns massive financial interests in Brookfield, which owes a quarter billion dollars to a Chinese state controlled bank?”
“How do we know he's not going to act against our interests in favor of his financial interest? Why didn't he stand in front of this microphone and confess to Canadians that owes the Chinese government that kind of money? Is this why he's covering up his financial interests, and given that China has murdered our people, taken our people hostage, how is he ever going to stand up to foreign interference when he's so financially compromised?”
“We have never in our history had a weak, out-of-touch leader so terribly compromised and conflicted, whose interests go against our national interest,” added Poilievre.
“And I call on Mr. Carney right now to come before a microphone today and explain if this loan is still in place and if he still has those Brookfield assets that he had up until a few weeks ago.”
A review of corporate documents conducted by The Bureau reveals that Brookfield, a CA$900 billion Canadian investment fund, maintains over $3 billion in politically sensitive investments with Chinese state-linked real estate and energy companies, along with a substantial offshore banking presence.”
One such real estate venture is a $750 million entry into a high-end Shanghai commercial property in 2013, as China’s real estate bubble was peaking, involving a Hong Kong tycoon affiliated with the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC). The CIA labels the CPPCC as a “united front” entity of Beijing, noted The Bureau.
Fast-forward 10 years, China’s real estate market crashed and Brookfield with Carney as chair “secured hundreds of millions of dollars in loans from the Bank of China to refinance its Shanghai commercial land holdings.”
“This emergency loan came a decade after Carney, serving as Governor of the Bank of England, aided Beijing by facilitating the Bank of China’s expansion of its global financial footprint,” reported The Bureau.
Carney in his 2013 speech, which he titled, UK at the Heart of Renewed Globalization, said “The Bank of England [has] signed an agreement with the People’s Bank of China … Helping the internationalization of the Renminbi is a global good.”
Brookfield’s investments in include “hundreds of millions in renewable energy assets acquired through TerraForm Global in 2017, a $750 million real estate stake in China Xintiandi since 2013, a 2019 Shanghai land purchase valued at approximately $2 billion, a $100 million joint venture with GLP for solar projects launched in 2018 and reported plans to raise hundreds of millions more in both real estate and China green sector investments,” wrote The Bureau.
