Parliament orders ethics probe into PM Carney’s corporate ties

Dan Knight: By a razor-thin vote of 170 to 164, the House of Commons ordered a full ethics investigation into Prime Minister Mark Carney’s financial holdings and conflict-of-interest arrangements. The motion backed by the Conservatives and Bloc Québécois compels testimony from Carney’s Chief of Staff, Brookfield executives, and senior bureaucrats. It also directs the committee to review whether the Conflict of Interest Act is even capable of dealing with a public officeholder who controls shares and trusts spread across more than 600 global corporations.

It was a decisive rebuke to the Liberal government and to the idea that blind trusts and “ethics screens” are anything more than smoke and mirrors…