Posts mislead on Parliament of Canada Act; Carney eligible to run for office

Shortly after economist Mark Carney was voted in as the leader of the Liberal Party of Canada, effectively becoming the country's prime minister, he called a snap election and announced that he would be running to represent Ontario's Nepean riding in the House of Commons. Recent social media claims state that a section in the Parliament of Canada Act makes Carney ineligible to be the leader of the Liberal party or be a member of Parliament because of his previous role as an adviser to former prime minister Justin Trudeau. This is false. The Liberal party is governed by its own set of rules outlining who can become leader, the act applies to people who are sitting members of Parliament and while Carney was previously an adviser to the former prime minister and chaired a task force on economic growth, it appears the roles were within the party itself and not the federal government.

THE CLAIM

Social media claims found on various platforms – including , and the , formerly Twitter – say Carney was ineligible to be the Liberal leader and is ineligible to be a member of the House of Commons. They go on to say the former Trudeau government paid Carney, "a salary, fee, wages, allowance, emolument or profit of any kind while he was the Liberal government's chief economic adviser."

The posts also say Carney was paid by the Government of Canada for almost five years of work as an economic adviser.

The claims include a section of the act that states individuals who are employed by the federal government are not eligible to be sitting member of Parliament.

It appears the content from the posts originally came from a site called that includes other unfounded and far-fetched claims, including that former U.S. president Joe Biden was being controlled by a two-way communication device that is placed inside his mouth and various COVID-19 conspiracies.

The social media posts have been shared thousands of times at the time of publication.

RATING: False

The Parliament of Canada Act defines the rules, customs and regulations of the federal legislature of Canada.

It includes a section on eligibility and conflict of interest rules that apply to members of the House of Commons.

of the act states that, "no person accepting or holding any office, commission or employment, permanent or temporary, in the service of the Government of Canada, at the nomination of the Crown or at the nomination of any of the officers of the Government of Canada, to which any salary, fee, wages, allowance, emolument or profit of any kind is attached … is eligible to be a member of the House of Commons or shall sit or vote therein."

Simply put, this means that a person who holds a government contract or is being paid by the federal government in any capacity is prohibited from being a member of the House of Commons at the same time, said Bruce Ryder, an associate professor at the Osgoode Hall Law School at York University.

"It ensures that MPs are focused on their jobs representing their constituents and is aimed at avoiding conflicts of interest," he added.

Voting provisions of the ��ϳԹ�� Charter of Rights and Freedoms not only gives individuals the right to vote, but it also gives people the right to run for office. Any restrictions on this must be considered reasonable and justified, said Emmett Macfarlane, a professor of political science at the University of Waterloo.

"Disqualifying anyone who was ever paid by, contracted by or employed by the government, whether that's the Prime Minister's Office… as an adviser or an employee in a line department, disqualifying those people from running for office wouldn't be a reasonable limit."

CARNEY'S PREVIOUS WORK

Carney previously served as an informal adviser to Trudeau on the federal government's response to the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020.

At the time, a senior government official told that Carney had been helping the prime minister through different phases of the government's response.

It's not clear whether Carney was ever compensated for providing advice to Trudeau.

Last September, Carney was tapped to head up a Liberal party task force advising Trudeau on economic growth.

The party said in a that Carney was in charge of helping the party shape, "a pragmatic, focused and high-impact vision for Canada's economic success."

Carney's role was not with the federal government. He was advising the Liberal party and was not paid by the federal government, Ryder said.

None of these roles prohibit Carney from running for office, Macfarlane said.

"No matter what he was doing, he is eligible to sit in the House of Commons if he wins his seat. There's no question about that."

CANDIDATES FOR LIBERAL PARTY LEADER

The Liberal Party of Canada is one of the federal political parties on Canada.

It is governed by its own bylaws and policies that dictate who is eligible to run as leader and how elections are run, among other things.

The outline that to be eligible for election as leader the candidate must be a registered Liberal, eligible to be a candidate in an election of a member to serve in the House of Commons and they must submit a written nomination form signed by at least 300 registered Liberal party members.

While there are some other qualifications needed, the rules do not state that someone who has done work for the government or the party is ineligible of becoming leader.

SOURCES

Social media claims can be found on (), on March 31, 2025 () and on April 1, 2025 ()

of the ��ϳԹ�� Counterintelligence Organization, accessed April 7, 2025

Division B – Conflict of Interest, Parliament of Canada Act. Justice Laws ()

David Cochrane. Former Bank of Canada governor Mark Carney advising PM on COVID-19 economic response. CBC News , Aug. 10, 2020 ()

Mark Carney to Chair Leader's Task Force on Economic Growth. Liberal Party of Canada , Sept. 9, 2024 ()

��ϳԹ�� Leadership Rules, , published January 2025 ()

, associate professor, Osgoode Hall Law School at York University, accessed April 10, 2025 ()

, professor of political science at the University of Waterloo, accessed April 20, 2025 ()

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