Information & Ethics Committee on Nov. 24th, 2025

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

I think there is a reason to do so here in that Mr. Carney stands to make millions, if not tens of millions, of dollars from future bonus pay based upon the performance of that fund.

Mr. Carney knows which public policy decisions might impact upon fund success, which in turn impacts his future bonus pay. These represent conflicts of interest, or potential conflicts of interest, and at the present time they are hidden conflicts of interest because Mr. Carney hasn't revealed what those holdings are, even though he helped set up the fund—

[Justin Beber]

I misunderstood your question. You're asking me what the fund has invested in.

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

I want to know what the fund has invested in, what the LPs are, what the holdings are. I want to know what's in the fund.

[Justin Beber]

Okay. We're just confusing terminology.

What I told you is that in the annexure, the fund's holdings at each of the companies that BGTF I holds is in the annexure, each company. There's only one, by the way, that is in Canada. It's a company called Entropy. Entropy is held by BGTF I.

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

The fund's holdings are not in the annexure. I'm just asking you to provide us with a list of those holdings.

[Justin Beber]

I'm sorry. Let me be more clear.

BGTF I has invested in 20 businesses, roughly, and the names of each of those businesses are listed in the annexure.

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

Who are the LPs?

[Justin Beber]

Again, we don't disclose the identity of our LPs. The identity of the LPs has nothing to do with the value that the fund will undertake. We manage the fund. We make the investment decisions. Those investment decisions have been made. We own those companies in that fund.

If those companies do well and we do well in stewarding them, in driving value through them, then BGTF I will do well.

[The Chair, Conservative, John Brassard]

Thank you, Mr. Cooper.

Mr. Beber, the requests coming from some members of the committee are being documented by the clerk, and they will be forwarded to you as a request.

[Justin Beber]

Thank you. I've been trying to write them down. I appreciate it.

[The Chair, Conservative, John Brassard]

We're keeping track. Thank you.

Ms. Lapointe, you have the floor for six minutes.

[Linda Lapointe, Liberal, Rivière-des-Mille-Îles, QC]

Thank you very much. I'll be sharing my time with Mr. Saini.

Mr. Beber, you said earlier that businesses face stiff global competition. Witnesses have told us that shifting profits internationally to reduce taxes is a form of tax competition, where countries compete to offer a more advantageous tax climate in order to stimulate their own economic growth. Governments must therefore strike a balance between growth and fairness.

Do you agree with that characterization of international tax competition?

[Justin Beber]

I fully agree that the global investment environment is excessively competitive. We work hard every single day to identify investment opportunities, which we bring to our clients.

Yes, we're aware that countries also compete for those investment dollars and undertake strategies and policies to attract capital in very legitimate ways in order to ensure that they are attractive places in which to deploy capital. We, as well as all of our peers and other international investors, pay close attention to those policies, particularly when they align with our sectors of focus.

[Linda Lapointe, Liberal, Rivière-des-Mille-Îles, QC]

Thank you.

How would you assess Canada's position in this competition context? Are we leaning too far one way or the other?

[Justin Beber]

I think Canada is a very attractive place to invest. There are always more ways in which Canada can ensure that it is competitive. We are big investors in Canada, as I've said. The current government has made it very clear that it's very focused on that.

[Linda Lapointe, Liberal, Rivière-des-Mille-Îles, QC]

Earlier, you talked about “LPs”.

What is that, exactly?

[Justin Beber]

LP is the term typically used for investors we bring into the fund. They're our clients. We call them LPs, which is short for limited partners, because most of the pooled capital vehicles we create are limited partnerships. It's a standard aggregating vehicle to bring those investors in. One shouldn't confuse LPs for the assets we hold in the fund.

[Linda Lapointe, Liberal, Rivière-des-Mille-Îles, QC]

Thank you very much.

I'll now hand off to my colleague Mr. Saini.

[The Chair, Conservative, John Brassard]

You have three minutes. Go ahead.

[Gurbux Saini, Liberal, Fleetwood—Port Kells, BC]

The whole discussion seems to be around Mr. Carney and his benefits. If anybody held that position—you, me or Mr. Cooper—would they still have the same exact benefits that Mr. Carney had, or was Mr. Carney exceptionally different from the rest of your people who hold those positions?

[Justin Beber]

First, as I mentioned before, Mr. Carney was compensated like any senior executive occupying his role. His departure was a completely ordinary course. We were obviously keenly aware of why he was departing, and we took legal advice in relation to what we needed to do.

As far as his compensation was concerned, he left with what any other employee of Brookfield would leave with. He left with his vested, long-term incentive plan instruments, and nothing more.

[Gurbux Saini, Liberal, Fleetwood—Port Kells, BC]

Thank you.

As a Canadian, I am very proud that we have a leader who has a vision and who is thinking 10 years ahead of time so that we as a country can get back on our footing as a strong, competitive nation doing business with countries. I find questions on the opposite side to be that Mr. Carney is some kind of guy who's a crook and nothing more than that. I find it very disturbing.

I'd like to hear your viewpoint on that.

[Justin Beber]

I had the opportunity to work with Mr. Carney over five years. I found him to be an exceptionally talented executive and a person of great integrity. I know that a lot of work has been implemented to the ethics screen that was put in place, and I know that he would want it to work.

[Gurbux Saini, Liberal, Fleetwood—Port Kells, BC]

We had people from the Prime Minister's Office and from Privy Council. We had the Ethics Commissioner. Our standards when dealing with blind trusts and conflicts are the gold standard in the world. They are top-notch. Do you have any suggestion on whether we could improve them any better?

[The Chair, Conservative, John Brassard]

Please give a very quick response. We're over time.