Conservatives say Carney is lying about his role moving investment firm's office to U.S.

Liberal leadership contender Mark Carney helped steer two G7 economies through turbulent times and his track record as a central banker earned him praise and offers to serve on the board of directors of some prominent businesses, non-profits and philanthropic organizations, including one of Canada's largest publicly traded companies, Brookfield Asset Management (BAM).

Now, the Liberal leadership front-runner is facing scrutiny for some of the decisions taken by BAM during his time as board chairman — including one to move the company's head office from Toronto to the U.S.

Carney downplayed his role in that decision at a news conference on Tuesday night after the Liberal leadership debate, saying it was a decision formally made by the board after he left the company in January.

But company documents show the board approved the move in October 2024, and the decision was affirmed by shareholders at a meeting late last month.

The wording of the investor relations document announcing the office move makes it clear the company wasn't waiting for shareholder approval.

"BAM has now changed its head office to New York," the document reads.

The Conservatives said Wednesday that Carney "lied" in describing his role, blasting him for helping move a division of a Canadian company south of the border to "Donald Trump's hometown."

"We know that we can't trust what Mark Carney says and we now know that he will put profits for himself and well-connected insiders on Bay Street and Wall Street ahead of Canadians," said Conservative MP Michael Barrett, the party's ethics critic.

A spokesperson for Carney told CBC News that Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre is "desperate to misrepresent Mark's serious experience in business because he has no economic experience whatsoever."

"Brookfield Asset Management remains one of the largest investors in Canada. It continues to list on the Toronto Stock Exchange and its parent company, Brookfield Corp., continues to be headquartered in Toronto. The changes reported are technical in nature, and with respect to jobs, Brookfield has clearly stated that Canadian operations were not impacted," the spokesperson said.

BAM is a large investment firm that owns assets including infrastructure, renewable power projects and real estate in 30 countries on five continents, according to company documents.

Carney, who also served as the company's "head of transition investing," a climate-focused role, was not paid in cash to serve as chairman but he was well compensated by the firm in other ways.

According to company records, as of April 2024, Carney held some 41,000 deferred share units (DSUs), which can be cashed in for BAM common stock at a later date. The stock currently trades at roughly $82 a share, which means, on paper, those DSUs could be worth more than $3 million.

Carney also held 303,049 stock options as of last year, which can in turn be liquidated sometime next decade.