Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney is heading out on a mid-January tour of China, Qatar and Switzerland that the government presents as a push to diversify trade and attract investment. I see it differently. The itinerary closely mirrors Carney’s own extensive business relationships built long before he entered elected office, raising legitimate questions about whose interests are really being advanced.

Carney will be in China from Jan. 13 to 17 for talks with President Xi Jinping, the first such visit by a Canadian prime minister in more than eight years. This meeting does not occur in a vacuum. Before becoming prime minister, Carney had repeated high-level contact with Chinese leaders while serving as chair of Brookfield Asset Management. In March 2024, he was among Western executives invited to meet Xi in Beijing as China worked to restore economic confidence and attract foreign capital. He returned again in October 2024, meeting senior officials including Beijing Mayor Yin Yong. One month later, Brookfield received a $276 million loan from the Bank of China. 

The second stop, Doha on Jan. 18, follows a similar pattern. Carney will meet the Emir of Qatar, Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani, and other officials in what Ottawa describes as a bilateral visit to deepen trade and investment ties. Yet Brookfield has maintained a deep and lucrative relationship with Qatar’s sovereign wealth fund, the Qatar Investment Authority, for years. Sheikh Tamim chairs the QIA’s board and the fund has been a cornerstone partner in several major Brookfield transactions.

That relationship expanded further in December 2025, when Brookfield and QIA-backed Qai, Qatar’s national artificial intelligence company, announced a $20 billion joint venture to develop AI infrastructure in Qatar and other markets. The partnership builds on earlier collaborations such as New York’s Manhattan West development and the acquisition of London’s Canary Wharf. Senior-level coordination remains active, highlighted by an October 2025 meeting between the QIA’s chairman and Brookfield chief executive Bruce Flatt to discuss global investment conditions.

Carney will wrap up the trip in Switzerland from Jan. 19 to 21 at the World Economic Forum in Davos, a venue where he has long been a central figure. His involvement with the WEF predates his political career and is closely tied to climate finance and sustainable investing. As a member of the WEF Foundation Board and a frequent Davos speaker, Carney has helped shape discussions on integrating climate risk into financial systems and restructuring capital markets for a net-zero transition. He has consistently argued that climate change poses a material financial risk and that mispriced assets, particularly in fossil fuels, threaten long-term stability. He has also been involved in WEF-linked efforts to scale voluntary carbon markets and other sustainable finance initiatives.

All of this might be easier to dismiss as coincidence if Carney had fully severed his financial ties to Brookfield. He has not. As of late 2024, he still held millions of dollars in Brookfield shares and unexercised stock options, valued at roughly $6.8 million, some of which do not expire until the 2030s. While Carney says his assets are held in a blind trust and that he does not directly manage individual holdings, critics continue to question whether this constitutes meaningful divestment, particularly given shifting explanations about what he owns and controls.

The government argues that this tour strengthens Canada’s global position and reduces reliance on the United States. I question whether that narrative stands up to scrutiny. When a prime minister’s diplomatic calendar aligns so neatly with the business relationships he cultivated for years and from which he still stands to benefit financially, Canadians are entitled to ask whether national policy is being shaped by public interest or by a private global network that has never truly been left behind.