Conservative MP Jamil Jivani has written a letter asking the ethics commissioner to investigate the relationship between Prime Minister Mark Carney and the CEO of Telesat, after Ottawa awarded a $2.3 billion contract to the satellite communications company.
Jivani’s Oct. 30 letter to Ethics Commissioner Konrad von Finckenstein, which Jivani publicized on Nov. 3, says Carney has had a long-standing friendship with Telesat CEO Dan Goldberg, and that under the Conflict of Interest Act, the commissioner should determine whether a conflict of interest screen should be applied to Carney.
Jivani said Carney and Goldberg have confirmed they are close friends, first meeting around two decades ago when their children played in the same preschool soccer league in Ottawa. Jivani noted that Goldberg was a guest during Carney’s swearing-in as prime minister at Rideau Hall in March 2025.
The Tory MP said Carney also has a “history of personally championing Telesat,” including when he “stressed the importance of Canadian-led low-earth-orbit satellite systems” before the House of Commons Industry Committee in May 2021. He added that the original edition of Carney’s 2021 book, called “Value(s),” said Telesat’s Low Earth Orbit satellite system should be “explored,” but the latest edition of the book omits the reference.
Jivani said Telesat is “highly reliant” on financial support from the federal government, receiving more than $5 billion through loans since 2019. On Dec. 9, 2025, Ottawa announced a strategic partnership with Telesat and MDA Space for military satellite communications under the Enhanced Satellite Communications Project – Polar (ESCP-P). In August 2026, Ottawa awarded Telesat a $2.3 billion contract to provide satellite communications for the Canadian Armed Forces in the Arctic.
Other contracts include a new Telesat campus in Gatineau and more than $86 million for a Northwestel project in Nunavut that will use Telesat Lightspeed.
Jivani said in his letter that the ethics commissioner should determine whether a conflict of interest screen should be applied to Carney. He also asked von Finckenstein to confirm whether Carney has recused himself from decisions relating to Telesat since he became prime minister, and investigate whether his participation in matters involving Telesat require further examination.
“Given the long-standing friendship, Telesat’s reliance on federal loans, contracts and capacity commitments worth several billion dollars and the decisions still to come, including the defence contract options, a reasonable person would expect at the very least an ethics screen to be established for the prime minister,” Jivani wrote.
During a press conference on Nov. 3, Carney said he has not been involved in “any decisions” related to Telesat, and he has disclosed his relationship with Goldberg to the ethics commissioner. He added that the most recent decisions around Telesat have been made through Secretary of State for Defence Procurement Stephen Fuhr.
“I haven’t been involved in those decisions, and therefore had had no recusal or other role in that,” Carney said.
Telesat did not respond to a request for comment before publication time.
