Liberal Leader Mark Carney has renounced his British and Irish citizenships, a spokesperson for the campaign told CBC News on Monday.
Carney, who was born in Canada, acquired Irish citizenship decades ago through his family ancestry and got his U.K. passport in 2018 while working overseas as the governor of the Bank of England. Carney’s wife is also British-born.
“His other citizenships were renounced before Mr. Carney was sworn in as prime minister,” the campaign spokesperson said.
Dual citizenship of other leaders has been a source of controversy in the past. In the 2019 federal election, for example, former Conservative leader Andrew Scheer failed to publicly disclose he’s a U.S. national — and he kept his American citizenship after he lost the election.
Former Liberal leader Stéphane Dion also held French citizenship, which he said he would renounce if he was elected, prompting Conservative claims of divided loyalty.
After facing attacks from the Conservatives over the weekend about whether Carney has been paying taxes in Canada, a Liberal campaign spokesperson said the leader “pays income taxes in Canada and has always followed all the rules as a tax-paying resident of Canada.”
“While Pierre Poilievre continues his desperate attacks, Mark Carney is taking action to stand up to Donald Trump’s tariffs and build a stronger economy for all Canadians,” the Liberal spokesperson said.
Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre posted a shadowy picture of Carney on social media Sunday with the text, “You paid your taxes in Canada. Did he?”
Asked about that claim Monday, Carney said it’s bunk: “I pay my taxes right here in Canada. I’m Canadian. I live in Ottawa.”
The federal election campaign is entering the final stretch, and the leaders have turned their attention to the leaders’ debates this week as the last big opportunity to reach undecided voters before advance polls open.
On the campaign trail, Poilievre has painted Carney as a “globalist elite” because of his substantial financial holdings, which have been placed in a blind trust to avoid potential conflicts of interest.
“To Carney, taxes are something that the little people have to worry about, while globalist elites like him can always escape the bill,” Poilievre said at a recent campaign stop.
Carney’s assets are largely unknown to the public — some of his stock options in Canadian investment firm Brookfield were made known through investor documents — but he has said he will follow all parliamentary rules about disclosure, if elected.
“As I’ve said a number of times, I have followed all the rules well ahead of the time I was supposed to, and now, in terms of assets, all I have left is money and personal property,” Carney said Monday at a defence announcement in Montreal.
“I disposed of my assets before I became prime minister. I work only for the people of Canada,” he said.
Carney has also faced criticism over Brookfield’s use of tax havens for some of its investment funds, a legal but controversial practice Carney has defended as a way for the company to save investors and pensioners money.
Carney’s other citizenships have also been used to depict Carney as someone who is untethered to Canada, like former Liberal leader Michael Ignatieff, who spent time in the U.S. before returning to run for office.
But Carney’s professional life is much different than that of Ignatieff, who lived outside Canada for decades as a professor.
Carney has spent much of his career in Canada, working as a senior finance official in the federal government before being tapped to serve as the governor of the Bank of Canada.
Liberal Leader Mark Carney, speaking from Dorval, Que., on Day 23 of the election campaign, is asked about where he was a resident between 2020 to 2024 and where he paid taxes.
Britain’s Conservative government at the time poached Carney to serve as the governor of the Bank of England after he earned plaudits for helping steer Canada through the Great Recession.
In 2020, Carney returned to live in Ottawa after his nearly seven-year tenure as the U.K.’s top central banker.
“Canada has given me everything: my family, my education, my values, and in return I’m ready to give everything to Canada,” Carney said at a recent rally.
