Poilievre slams Carney over investment disclosure, says PM needs to sell assets

Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre is pointing to a list of assets that Prime Minister Mark Carney transferred to a blind trust as evidence that the Liberal leader wasn't being honest with Canadians on the campaign trail. 

Last week, the ethics commissioner publicized a list of Carney's investments before they were transferred to the trust. Carney transferred his assets shortly after winning the Liberal leadership but before being sworn in as prime minister.

"We want him to explain why he told Canadians the opposite of the truth during the election campaign," Poilievre said Monday during a news conference in Ottawa.

During the campaign, Carney declined to say what stocks he had transferred into the trust — stating that he had gone above and beyond what's required in the ethics rules.

A blind trust means the trustee is the legal owner of the assets and can buy and sell them as they see fit. The trustee is barred from seeking input from Carney — and Carney is barred from knowing what assets are in the trust.

Poilievre said Carney had made "false statements" by saying he didn't know what was in the trust — though he would have known what the assets were when he transferred them.

Poilievre also pointed to Carney saying he owned only cash and personal real estate as an example of a false statement.

"It was patently and provably false for him to say he owned nothing but cash and real estate," the Conservative leader said.

But those comments referred to assets that Carney held outside of the blind trust. The ethics disclosure shows the only other asset Carney holds outside the trust is the copyright to his book Value(s).

The filing shows Carney had held hundreds of different stocks in an investment account managed by a third party. 

Poilievre says Carney should sell all his assets, arguing they compromise his decision-making.

But it's not entirely clear if Carney would be able to do so, given that they are legally controlled by the trustee.

The Prime Minister's Office (PMO) said in a statement on Friday that Carney has worked "to not only comply with his obligations under the Conflict of Interest Act but to exceed them — including having his team working with the [ethics] commissioner even before he was elected — and he will continue to do so." 

CBC News has asked the PMO for a response to Poilievre's specific claims.