Hands off was the rule. September 15 was the stage. CPP Investments and Brookfield launched the Maple Fund that day at the Canada Investment Summit the Prime Minister hosted. Up to $50 billion in equity. Fifty-fifty. Each side up to $25 billion over five years. Projects above $5 billion. No fees between them. The announcement is a framework. The partners still have to clear their own boards. That is not the same as a prime minister signing a cheque. It is also not hands off. Mark Carney chaired Brookfield Asset Management until he ran. Filings showed unexercised Brookfield options worth about US$6.8 million on December 31, 2024. Some run into the 2030s. They went into a blind trust. A blind trust is not a sale. The ethics committee said sell. The sale has not been published. Brookfield’s own chief operating officer told that committee the obvious line: if he had sold, there would be no conflict left to manage. The options rise when Brookfield rises. The screen that is supposed to keep him out is run by his chief of staff and the Clerk. It covers specific Brookfield files. It does not cover a decision that hits Brookfield as one of a broad class. The summit, the airport concessions floated the same day, the nation-building list: that is the class. CPP is deferred wages. Arms-length by statute since the 1990s. The board owes the contributors a return, not a photo. Average CPP at 65 is $858 a month. Maximum $1,507. My husband paid in 40 years. I paid in 35. That is the grocery bill. Publish the recusal on the summit. Publish whether the options are still in the trust. Sell them. Sit in the House and say why the old firm was the partner on the day he put the pension fund on the letterhead. Until that paper is public, “I cannot influence the funds” is the speech. The stage was the file. Kitchen table first. #cdnpoli

He stayed in the seat. Oilers home opener. Crowd on its feet for a Canadian Army veteran. Mark Carney in the jersey, hands down, still sitting. The arena stood. He did not. That is not a missed cue. That is the man. The spotlight was on someone else for a second, and he could not give it. A veteran who wore the uniform this country asked for. A kitchen table that still tells the Italy stories. Princess Louise Dragoon Guards. The Plugs. Fathers who came home and did not ask for a podium. He could not stand up. Who does he think he is. The CEO. The announcement. The oceans cheque. The envoy title for the household. The House he skips. And now a seat he will not leave when the room is honouring a soldier. Honour is the one thing that does not require a budget line. He did not have it on him. We see him. Not the poll. Not the address. The seat. Above the rest of us, including the man who served. We do not like him. We do not owe him the benefit of the clip. A prime minister who will not stand for a veteran has already told you the order he keeps. Mark Carney. Name him.
Kitchen table first.
#cdnpoli