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Reuters
Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has denied playing a role in choosing a charity with ties to his family to run a major government program.
Witnessing to the House of Commons, he rejected any participation by him or his staff in the program that has caused great political controversy in Canada.
Trudeau is under scrutiny for failing to make decisions about the show.
It is being investigated by a federal ethics watchdog for failing to do so.
On Thursday, Mr. Trudeau told the Ottawa finance committee that the decision to use WE Charity for the student volunteer program was made independently by the federal public service.
He says he only found out that the charity had been recommended by the public service for the program in early May.
WE Charity had previously paid the Prime Minister’s mother and brother to speak at events between 2017-18 and Mr. Trudeau and his wife were involved with the organization.
The prime minister says he knew there would be scrutiny of the deal because of those ties, so he asked bureaucrats to “do their due diligence” when he learned of the plan to run the program.
He said they returned two weeks later and were told that WE Charity was the only organization that could administer the program.
“WE Charity received no preferential treatment from me or from anyone else,” he told MPs.
Opposition lawmakers on Thursday accused Trudeau of launching public service “under the bus.”
What is the bottom line?
The case centers on the decision for WE Charity to administer Canada’s new Student Services Grant Program.
The program, which had an initial budget of C $ 912 million ($ 680 million, £ 534 million), was intended to award grants to students for volunteer functions to help make up for the lack of summer jobs due to the pandemic.
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AFP via Getty Images
Prime Minister testified by video conference
WE Charity had previously paid the Prime Minister’s mother and brother a total of more than C $ 280,000 to speak at events between 2017-18.
Mr. Trudeau and his wife Sophie Gregoire Trudeau have regularly appeared at charity events.
Members of the Trudeau family were also reimbursed for some expenses related to these events.
We Charity pulled out of the contract because of the controversy on July 2. Trudeau apologized for not recusing himself from the related discussions.
The family of Federal Finance Minister Bill Morneau also has ties to WE Charity.
What is WE Charity?
WE Charity was founded 25 years ago by brothers Craig and Marc Kielburger at their parents’ home in Thornhill, Ontario, when Craig was just 12 years old.
Formerly known as Free the Children, the organization focused on ending child exploitation and quickly gained international recognition.
The charity’s motivational talk talks WE Day have become rites of passage for many young Canadians, who are drawn to its message that they can change the world. The list of famous speakers and artists has also attracted many participants.
It is now a powerful organization with operations in the United Kingdom, Canada, and the United States.
Its founders told parliamentarians on July 28 that they did not receive the contribution agreement due to any political connection and that they did not win financially.
How will this affect Trudeau?
This is the third ethical investigation in Trudeau’s five-year tenure.
In 2017, a government ethics watchdog ruled that the prime minister violated conflict of interest rules when he and his family vacationed with billionaire spiritual leader Aga Khan.
The billionaire foundation is a registered lobbyist and has received hundreds of millions from the federal government in recent decades, from both liberal and conservative parties.
Last August, the federal ethics czar discovered that Trudeau broke federal conflict of interest rules by trying to influence a former minister in the SNC-Lavalin corruption investigation.
As a result of this latest controversy, Trudeau’s Liberal Party has been affected in the polls, although its government had done well in its response to a pandemic before.
A poll by Abacus Data on Thursday showed that the Liberals fell to a four-point lead over the Conservatives.
A survey by Nanos Research found that Trudeau was the prime minister of choice for 34% of Canadians, up from 40% last month. The Angus Reid Institute found that its approval ratings had dropped 11 points since May, and that the losses came mainly from liberal voters.
