Information & Ethics Committee on Nov. 20th, 2025

[Marc-André Blanchard]

I didn't say that.

[Michael Cooper, Conservative, St. Albert—Sturgeon River, AB]

You wouldn't answer yes-or-no questions. They were yes-or-no questions.

[Marc-André Blanchard]

I did not say that.

[Michael Cooper, Conservative, St. Albert—Sturgeon River, AB]

You refused to answer, so I'm inferring that you simply don't.

[Marc-André Blanchard]

I'm sorry, Mr. Cooper. It's not a yes-or-no question.

[The Chair, Conservative, John Brassard]

Mr. Cooper, hang on a second.

Just let him answer the question, please, Mr. Cooper, and then we'll go back to you.

Go ahead, Mr. Blanchard.

[Marc-André Blanchard]

This—

[The Chair, Conservative, John Brassard]

I have a point of order from Mr. Fergus.

Go ahead.

[Greg Fergus, Liberal, Hull—Aylmer, QC]

I think the translation is going off is because they are talking over each other. It would be very important for the questioner to ask his question alone and for the speaker to answer the question alone.

[The Chair, Conservative, John Brassard]

I made that point earlier and I asked that it be respected for the sake of the interpreters.

When you ask a question, make sure that a clear answer is given and then you can go back to the question. Please don't talk over each other.

Mr. Blanchard, please answer the question.

[Marc-André Blanchard]

The answer is more than a yes or no. There are people around Mr. Carney who get calls and forward them to him. Those people have received training to ensure that the Prime Minister's ethical obligations are met. That's another measure that exists.

[The Chair, Conservative, John Brassard]

Mr. Cooper.

[Michael Cooper, Conservative, St. Albert—Sturgeon River, AB]

You refer to training. You gave very vague answers to a very straightforward question, which is, who screens Mr. Carney's meetings, phone calls and texts?

[Marc-André Blanchard]

For the meetings—

[Michael Cooper, Conservative, St. Albert—Sturgeon River, AB]

No, I misspoke. It's phone calls and texts.

[Marc-André Blanchard]

I have told you and informed you that there's a team of executive assistants around Mr. Carney who have been trained to ensure compliance with the ethical measures that the Prime Minister has committed to follow.

[Michael Cooper, Conservative, St. Albert—Sturgeon River, AB]

There's no answer, so I take it no one screens his texts or phone calls.

Therefore, I would submit there is absolutely no assurance that Mr. Carney isn't in touch with folks from Brookfield, with which he has vast conflicts of interest, and others. You simply haven't provided any indication that anyone screens anything as far as his texts and phone calls go.

I want to ask you—

[The Chair, Conservative, John Brassard]

You have 10 seconds.

[Michael Cooper, Conservative, St. Albert—Sturgeon River, AB]

Okay, I'm out of time.

[The Chair, Conservative, John Brassard]

Mr. Turnbull, go ahead for five minutes.

I'll then give the floor to Mr. Thériault for two and a half minutes.

[Ryan Turnbull, Liberal, Whitby, ON]

Mr. Blanchard, it's great to see you. I want to start by asking you a similar question to Mr. Maloney's about blind trusts.

Obviously, the Prime Minister, in order to be in a conflict of interest, must be able to make decisions to further his own private interests. The whole point of a blind trust is that he has no control over those assets. Essentially all of the assets that he has divested into that blind trust could have been liquidated and could have been reinvested somewhere else.

Do any of us really know what's held in that blind trust at this point?

[Marc-André Blanchard]

Outside of the trustee and the Ethics Commissioner, I am not aware of any other people who would know this. This is in accordance with the law and the obligations that are flowing from the ethics....

[Ryan Turnbull, Liberal, Whitby, ON]

Okay, I appreciate that.

We've heard from the testimony, going back to Nigel Wright, that the whole point of it is that you don't know what's in there. We've heard from witnesses in this committee, like the professor from York University, who said that there was a public office holder who later found out, post holding office, that there were investment decisions that they didn't agree with and they were disappointed, but they didn't know. That's the whole point.

The other point of this is that it seems the process is blind on two sides, in a sense, because the Prime Minister himself also does not administer the ethics screen you've been describing for us. In fact, that screen is administered by you and the Clerk of the Privy Council and overseen by the Ethics Commissioner.

Is that right?

[Marc-André Blanchard]

Yes.

[Ryan Turnbull, Liberal, Whitby, ON]

Essentially, every decision that the Prime Minister could make is something that you three review, or that the two administrators, the Clerk and you, review.