TORONTO (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 16th July, 2020) A member of Canada's official opposition party called the latest reports of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's ties to the WE charity "unacceptable," in a statement.
The National Post reported on Wednesday that the WE Charity was asked by Trudeau and a government department to host a WE Day event during Canada Day weekend festivities in 2017, at a reported cost of $870,000 and where the prime minister's mother, Margaret Trudeau, was a speaker and may have been paid speaking fees.
"Trudeau was directly involved in awarding this $1.18M [$870,000 USD] contract to his friends at WE. This time, tax Dollars may have been used to pay a speaking fee to Trudeau's own mother. Unacceptable," Michael Barrett, the Conservatives' Shadow Minister for Ethics, said via Twitter on Wednesday.
Neither the Office of the Prime Minister nor the WE Charity responded to a request for comment.
Trudeau and Finance Minister Bill Morneau have incurred criticism after multiple investigative pieces revealed close ties between their families and the WE Charity, which was awarded a $670-million sole-source contract to administer a government-sponsored student volunteer program.
An investigation by independent media outlet Canadaland revealed that Trudeau's mother and brother, Alexandre Trudeau, were paid a combined sum of $258,000 for speaking engagements at WE Charity events. Trudeau's wife Sophie has also participated in a number of WE Charity events around the world.
The Rebel news also reported that WE Charity founders Craig and Marc Kleinberg have given donations to Trudeau and the Liberal Party of Canada.
Last week, Barrett called for a police investigation into the relationship between the Canadian government and the charity and that an investigation has to also uncover which other cabinet members knew of the alleged wrongdoing.
Both Trudeau and Morneau have apologized for not recusing themselves from the decision-making process but reiterated that the decision to award the contract was recommended by the public service.
The prime minister has said that he does not intend to step down and deputize Deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland to lead government in the interim as has been suggested by Bloc Quebecois leader Yves-Francois Blanchet.
Meanwhile, Canada's Ethics Commissioner Mario Dion has already opened an investigation into whether any wrongdoing on the part of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau occurred in the decision to award the contract.
The investigation of Trudeau will be the third against him during his time in office. The prime minister was twice found in violation of conflict of interest rules for interfering in the investigation into corrupt practices by engineering giant SNC-Lavalin's dealings in Libya and improperly accepting gifts or "other advantages" when visiting Aga Khan's private island.
