From the CBC:
“Ethics watchdog investigating
Trudeau over choice of WE Charity to run $900M student grant program”
Conflict of Interest and Ethics
Commissioner Mario Dion has launched an investigation of Prime Minister Justin
Trudeau over the government's decision to task the WE Charity — which has ties
to Trudeau's family — with administering a $900 million summer student grant
program. Trudeau and his government have been under fire since announcing the
contract because of the charity's close association with the Trudeau family. Trudeau
and his mother, Margaret, have appeared at a number of WE Day events, while
Trudeau's wife, Sophie Grégoire Trudeau, hosts a podcast for the group called
"WE Well-being." WE Charity said in a statement to CBC News that
members of the Trudeau family don't receive any appearance fees or honoraria
when they appear at WE events. Grégoire Trudeau has been reimbursed for travel
expenses related to her volunteer work with the organization. Earlier today, the WE Charity and the federal
government announced they were ending the partnership. Dion initiated his
investigation after Conservative MP Michael Barrett and NDP MP Charlie Angus
separately wrote his office asking him to examine the prime minister's conduct
in relation to the contract. In a letter to Barrett, Dion said he will be
investigating Trudeau under subsection 6(1) of the Act, which prohibits public
office holders from making decisions that further their own private interests
or the interests of another person. Trudeau also is being investigated under
sections 7 and 21 of the act, which deal with giving someone preferential
treatment and failing to recuse from a conflict of interest. The WE Charity was
started by human rights advocates Marc and Craig Kielburger in 1995. Last
month, Trudeau announced that it would administer the Canada Student Service
Grant, which will provide eligible students with up to $5,000.
Charities push back: The grants are intended to help students
cover the cost of post-secondary education in the fall. The amount of the grant
depends on how much time a students spends doing volunteer work. Shortly after it was announced that We Charity
would be running the program, the Liberal government came under fire from
opposition parties and some people in the charitable sector. Volunteer Canada, a group that promotes
volunteerism, said it would refuse to work with WE Charity because it objected
to how the program was being administered and to the idea of paying students
for volunteer work. Trudeau initially defended the partnership, saying WE was
the only group with a nationwide network capable of operating a program on this
scale for young people. Other charitable organizations have questioned that
assertion. While the We Charity was tasked with running the program, it was
getting only $19.5 million to cover its costs — $5 million of which was
supposed to be passed on to partner organizations such as Pathways to
Education. Conservative Leader Andrew Scheer said that if Trudeau is confident
that We Charity was the right choice, he should be willing to produce evidence
to back up the decision. "There's still no explanation as to why one
charity with this level of involvement with the Trudeau family was the only
one," Scheer told guest host Catherine Cullen on CBC News Network's Power
& Politics. "Did they do an
exhaustive search? What can they point to as justification for We being the
only group that can do this? Did they do an analysis? We'd like to find out
this information." PMO spokesperson Chantal Gagnon told CBC that the
office would "of course collaborate with the commissioner and answer any
questions he may have."
^ This will be the 3rd
Ethics Investigation that Trudeau will go through (he was found to be breached
official ethical protocols in the first two investigations and yet the Canadian
people voted him back into office.) That shows how morally and ethically
bankrupt Trudeau is, but also the Canadian people who voted for him are. I am a
Canadian citizen and can not vote in Canadian Elections since I have no
Province or Territory of record. If I
could have voted I would not have voted for the Liberals (ie Trudeau) after he
was found ethically and morally wrong in two separate investigations. Doing so
would mean I myself and morally and ethically wrong and I try my best not to
be. While I see Trudeau will most likely be found to have breached ethical and
moral issues in this 3rd case I don’t see there being anything done
to him - if anything the Canadian people
will probably reward him even more. The Canadian Maple Leaf used to have a
special meaning – especially outside of Canada – of showing that Canada was
good and honest. Sadly, that is no longer the case. ^
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