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Trudeau Denies Using Influence in Student-Aid Scandal

Trudeau Denies Using Influence in Student Aid Scandal

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau denied allegations his ties to the WE Charity led him to award a contract to the organization.

In 90 minutes of testimony to a parliamentary committee, Trudeau said he never influenced the public service’s decision to choose WE Charity to administer a C$900 million ($670 million) student-grant program this spring, even though he realized in hindsight he should have recused himself from cabinet’s final decision on the matter.

Trudeau and his chief of staff, Katie Telford, both said public servants concluded WE was the only organization in Canada capable of building out the plan quickly, forcing the government to choose either to move ahead or drop it altogether.

“WE Charity received no preferential treatment. Not from me, not from anyone else,” Trudeau said in opening remarks Thursday afternoon. “The public service recommended WE Charity, and I did absolutely nothing to influence this recommendation.”

The prime minister’s rare appearance in front of the House of Commons finance committee is an attempt to douse the flames of a scandal that’s overshadowing his government’s pandemic response.

Promoting Volunteerism

Trudeau announced on June 25 that WE would receive a C$43.5 million contract to administer the program, which would have provided grants of up to C$5,000 to postsecondary students who did volunteer work over the summer.

Controversy erupted after it emerged the organization paid more than C$350,000 in speaking fees and expenses to Trudeau’s mother, brother and wife. Trudeau said he had never been paid for any of his own appearances at WE Charity events, and that Canada’s ethics commissioner had signed off on his wife’s work with the group.

“The choice was not between providers,” the prime minister said. “It was between going ahead with the WE Charity to deliver the program or not going ahead with the program at all.”

While the WE contract has since been rescinded, it’s taking a toll. The prime minister is facing his third ethics investigation since coming to power in 2015 and his approval ratings are falling. An Abacus Data poll released Thursday morning shows voters have a net negative impression of him for the first time since Covid-19 hit.

Morneau Connection

The scandal has also implicated his finance minister and Trudeau is facing calls to drop him amid Canada’s sharpest economic downturn since the Great Depression.

Finance Minister Bill Morneau, whose two daughters have ties to WE, acknowledged last week he accepted more than C$41,000 in travel expenses from WE for family trips to Kenya and Ecuador in 2017. Though he repaid the money and apologized, the opposition Conservatives are calling for his resignation.

Trudeau said he was unaware one of Morneau’s daughters currently works for WE, and denied knowing his finance minister had traveled on the charity’s dime. The prime minister also said he has never met either of the group’s co-founders, Craig and Marc Kielburger, outside of official functions.

Trudeau Denies Using Influence in Student-Aid Scandal

Telford, who testified for two hours after Trudeau’s appearance, backed the prime minister’s account.

She said she first learned of Morneau’s ties to WE when she saw a jacket endorsement from one of the Kielburgers on a book written by Morneau’s other daughter.

“When I saw the cover showed recently -- I am not sure if it is the front or the back -- it did have a quote from a Kielburger on it and that was really the extent of my knowledge of the connection,” Telford said.

Pressed on any personal connections to WE, Trudeau’s top aide said neither she nor any of her family members had ever been paid directly or received any travel expense reimbursements from the charity.

©2020 Bloomberg L.P.