Conservative MP Michael Cooper, is accusing Mark Carney’s former company, Brookfield, of “evading over $6.5 billion in Canadian taxes in just five years.”
“A tax avoidance expert says Carney’s Brookfield is Canada’s largest tax dodger,” wrote Cooper in an online statement based on a meeting of the Standing Policy Committee on Access to Information, Privacy and Ethics with Jason Ward, an analyst with the Centre for International Corporate Tax Accountability and Research, who appeared remotely.
“Carney’s company pocketed billions at Canadians’ expense,” Cooper alleged.
Brookfield, where Carney was a former executive, has not been formally accused of wrongdoing, and the allegations have not been tested in court.
“That was based on research done by Canadians for Tax Fairness, and by some analysis from the Toronto Star,” said Ward, adding, “The tax gap is looking at the statutory rate, and there are some reasons why companies have legitimate reasons why [they] pay below that, but that’s an indication of a major underpayment of taxes that, in the spirit of the law, should have been paid in Canada to finance public services in Canada.”
Cooper asserted that $6.5 billion is a significant amount of money. He asked Ward if it’s fair to say that Brookfield is “Canada’s largest tax dodger amongst corporations.”
“It has been labelled as such,” said Ward. “And if it’s not the largest, it’s clearly in the very top tier.”