Investments, Blind Trusts and Mark Carney

Why Potential Conflicts of Interests are a Red Herring

Doug Anderson

Jul 29, 2025

Mark Carney is apparently a fairly wealthy man. Wealthy people have to put their money somewhere and most of them are smart enough to realize that the bank is neither the best place nor the safest.

The disclosure of the assets that Carney put into a blind trust shows that he had investments in more than 560 companies through a third-party managed account, That 3rd party will be an investment company that is likely managing the wealth of numerous people and they have the expertise and the technology to pick stocks with good growth potential and below average volatility. They would have been operating under general guidelines set out by the portfolio owner. (e.g. no coal, no napalm, yes to clean energy, yes to innovation, etc.)

Beyond that, the owner would have little involvement and would likely have little knowledge or even care what stocks were included and how much. They would get a report likely once a month and would give it a lookover much like you do with your credit card statement. They would look at the bottom line and get on with their current project (such as Prime Minister).

Conflicts of interest can only exist where an individual is aware of the particular exposure of a particular investment.

Carney’s goal is to grow the Canadian economy. In that context, I have to admit that I am somewhat disappointed that his portfolio doesn’t have a lot more Canadian content, but it also means that his portfolio has less exposure to a growing Canadian economy, hence less likely that critics will find perceived conflicts of interest.

In terms of the location of their head offices, his portfolio has over 80% invested in American controlled companies; however in the current structure of the world economy, many of those companies are heavily invested in Canada (such as the fossil fuel, auto, steel and aluminum sectors, much of which at one time was Canadian owned). But for the last 50plus years successive Canadian governments of all stripes have watched and even encouraged the buyout of Canadian enterprise by foreigners (mostly American). American investment was about ‘opportunity’. And now we’re scrambling. Carney may just be the best person to deal with that reality.

The predominance of American investments in his portfolio is a reflection of a general attitude of Canadian investors including all of our major pension funds (see my earlier article “Bring These $$ Home”)

His prior involvement with Brookfield is another matter and, along with the Ethics Commissioner, he has set up a screen to prevent him from having involvement with matters involving this company. Brookfield is a asset management company with investments in a very wide range of business and it has been pointed out by several commentators that perceived conflicts will be hard to avoid. The key word is perceived – Brookfield has investments in – for example – solar panels so if Carney wants to increase Canada’s use of solar power … . But such arguments are way down the rabbit hole. Brrookfield will have a minor investment in one (or a couple) of manufacturers of such panels so the financial implications to Carney’s portfolio would be minuscule.

Under the screen, Carney is apparently allowed to be involved in discussions that affect companies as part of a broader industry group or general policy, but not if they’re specifically targeted.

Growing the Canadian economy is about improving the investment climate and that’s something that Carney understands.