Trudeau Apologies for WE Charity Scandal

Trudeau apologies for WE charity scandal Prime Minister Trudeau apologized Monday for failing to recuse himself from discussions to award the administration of the $900 million Canadian Student Service Grant (CSSG) to WE Charity. The organization, with close ties to the Trudeau family, paid his mother Margaret Trudeau and brother Alexandre over $300,000 for dozens of speaking engagements between 2016 and 2020. Trudeau, who is currently under investigation by ethics commissioner Mario Dion for a contravention of the Conflict of Interest Act regarding the matter, told reporters he “made a mistake in not recusing myself immediately given our family history.” He also stated that the decision to engage with WE came from an “independent recommendation” from the public service. WE Charity, which has since cancelled its contract with the federal government, would have been paid $20 million to administer the program. CSSG offers one-time payments to students who do volunteer work with their communities' COVID-19 response plans. The program will now be administered by the public service. Finance minister Bill Morneau, whose daughter works under contract for a branch of WE, also issued an apology hours after Trudeau did so, admitting he also did not recuse himself from discussions concerning the organization. “I now realize I should have in order to avoid any perception of conflict,” Morneau said in a Twitter post on Monday. This marks the third time Trudeau will face the ethics commissioner’s scrutiny. In 2017, then ethics commissioner Mary Dawson, reported that Prime Minister contravened the Act by accepting a vacation the Aga Khan's private Caribbean island. Trudeau was again found to be in contravention of the Act in 2019 by present commissioner Dion, for his actions concerning the prosecution of SNC-Lavalin. Opposition Conservatives are calling on the RCMP for an investigation into the WE affair. The Conservatives are also calling for the parliamentary ethics committee to hold an emergency meeting to address the situation, and finance critic Pierre Poilievre wants both Trudeau and Morneau to testify in front of the House of Commons finance committee, which is also looking into WE. WE Charity, formerly known as Free the Children, is an international charity focused on development and the empowerment of young people. It was founded by human rights activists Craig and Marc Kielburger in 1995.