Poilievre targets Carney’s assets, promises tougher ethics rules

Poilievre told a press conference in Ottawa on Sunday that if his party forms government, he'll ban what he calls "shadow lobbying."

Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre is promising to tighten financial transparency rules for elected officials — and is using that promise to take aim at Liberal Leader Mark Carney.

Poilievre told a press conference in Ottawa on Sunday that if his party forms government, he’ll ban what he calls “shadow lobbying.”

“We will eliminate the lobbying loophole and require anyone who is acting as an adviser to government officials to declare themselves and register as a lobbyist, whenever they are advising on matters that touch upon their financial interests or that of their company,” Poilievre said.

He said this rule would have forced Carney to register as a lobbyist when he advised former prime minister Justin Trudeau through the Liberal party.

The Conservative leader also said he would require that cabinet ministers “divest fully from tax havens” and disclose their assets — more shots at Carney, who has come in for scrutiny for not disclosing his financial assets and because his former firm Brookfield Asset Management registered entities in the Cayman Islands tax haven.

Poilievre billed his package of measures as the “Accountability Act 2.0” — a reference to a law passed by the former Stephen Harper government. It ushered in modern parliamentary ethics rules and created the offices of the lobbying and ethics commissioners.

Carney’s campaign did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Carney has said in the past that he has put his assets in a blind trust and was in discussions with the ethics commissioner about creating a conflict of interest screen.

But his ethics disclosure filing may not come out until after the election — and Carney has not said anything about what went into the blind trust.