The WE Charity Scandal…Explained.
Photo Credit: (The Province / Google Images)
Written by: Micah Dewey
The WE Charity Scandal has been a trending topic in the Canadian News cycle for almost a month now. There have been many opinions and suggestions as to what exactly happened and why. Speculation, Partisan politics, and outright lies have been magnified since the program was formally announced on June 25, 2020.
The goal of covering this story is to get out all of the known confirmed facts and to let you the reader or viewer of this story make up your mid on what you think the problem is. My opinion will be withheld until I explain the entire scandal because at the end of the day there is so much nonsense out there on the internet and TV about this situation.
So let’s start at the beginning.
June 25, 2020
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau had a news release uploaded to the official pm.gc.gov website. It announced a new volunteer program for students struggling financially during the COVID-19 pandemic.
In the initial news release, the government announced the Canadian Student Service Grant which would “aim[s] to encourage young people to take part in service activities that will help them support their communities’ COVID-19 response and gain invaluable experience.” WE Charity would be the organization administering the $912 Million program which would be available to currently enrolled post-secondary students, under age 30, who are either Canadian citizens. permanent residents or students with refugee status. Importantly, the news release had this to say about compensation,
“Administered by WE Charity, the CSSG is a one-time payment available at five levels, ranging from $1,000 to $5,000. The amount will vary based on the number of hours each volunteer completes, with $1,000 provided for each 100 hours completed, up to a maximum of $5,000 for 500 hours.”
The initial controversy was related directly to the compensation for the “volunteer” work as it pays students below the federal minimum wage. Additionally, the numbers presented by the government, up to 20,000 students and up to $5,000 each only adds up to $100 million leaving an extra $812 million unaccounted for, all while the Prime Minister assured the public that WE Charity would not be profiting off of the program.
June 26, 2020
Merely a day after the initial announcement both the NDP and the Conservatives had requested that the terms of the contract between the Federal Government and WE Charity be released.
The first real push-back came from the mouth of NDP Ethics Critic and Timmons-James Bay MP Charlie Angus. In an interview, Mr. Angus expressed skepticism about the announcement saying that the whole affair “stinks of cronyism”. One of the biggest question marks was; Why would the Federal Government outsource a program to a charity with little to no experience fulfilling a grant this large?
He also brought up the fact that the Trudeau family had many times appeared at WE sponsored events, and that by doing so, was able to get his message to young voters before anyone else.
Another major concern for Angus and the NDP was that there were no measures in place for the oversight of this program if it got privatized.
June 28, 2020
The CEO of Volunteer Canada, Paula Speevak, spoke to CBC News with her personal and organizational concerns. She said, “Why not build on the existing infrastructure, where people are already posting these opportunities?” adding local organizations already have “really excellent systems and a connection with non-profits in their communities.”
Ms. Speevak’s concerns elevated the CSSG program to the national and politically partisan spotlight. From this point forward, criticism would be brought to the Prime Minister and his cabinet at an accelerated pace.
Justin Trudeau responded to the early criticism by stating that there was no conflict of interest because WE Charity would not be profiting from the administration of the program despite both he, his wife, and his mother regularly speaking and being involved with WE Charity events.
The Federal Conservative Party wrote an open letter to the Auditor General of Canada, Karen Hogan, requesting an investigation into the Liberal government’s decision to “outsource” the administration of the grant by WE Charity, an international non-profit organization, and that by doing so, would eliminate any government oversight of the funds being provided to help students.
“By outsourcing this program to a third party, the proper channels for Opposition scrutiny, the very bedrock of our parliamentary democracy, have been circumvented,”
The letter was signed by Conservative MPs Pierre Poilievre, Dan Albas and Raquel Dancho.
Despite this letter calling out the Prime Minister and his family, Trudeau held firm that the decision to use WE Charity to administer the program. He again reiterated that the decision was made by the non-partisan public service office and that his family’s involvement in WE was not grounds for an investigation.
This decision came on the back of May’s Federal unemployment statistics being released stating that post-secondary students aged 20–24 had record unemployment of 42.1%.
June 29, 2020
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau doubles down on his government’s decision to move forward with the WE Charity administration of the CSSG.
PM Justin Trudeau Doubles Down on Canada Student Service Grant
This announcement was again met with criticism by both Conservatives and by Volunteer Canada.
July 3, 2020
This is where it starts to get controversial, with facts and opinions being easily construed with each other.
WE Charity announced that they would be giving up the contract due to the controversy around the Prime Minister and the Liberal government’s involvement.
On the same day, an independent investigator at Canadaland released a story about WE Charity and their illegal and unethical practices in Kenya related to their Free The Children campaign. In this piece, the author, Jesse Brown, ties WE Charity directly to fraud, bribery, and other crimes being committed on behalf of the organization, under the umbrella of WE Kenya.
Federal ethics watchdog Mario Dion launched an investigation into the government and Trudeau’s handling of the WE fiasco.
July 6, 2020
The NDP Ethics Critic Charlie Angus reached an agreement with Ethics Commissioner Mario Dion on an investigation into the scandal. MP Angus was concerned with the fact that Prime Minister Trudeau had already been found guilty by the Commission two previous times, but said that this time it was different.
“This week, the Ethics Commissioner agreed with my request for an investigation in Justin Trudeau’s involvement in the decision to award a $900-million contract to the WE Charity. This is the third investigation I have requested into the Prime Minister breaking the conflict of interest law. On the two other occasions, the PM was found guilty. This third investigation represents a severe lapse of judgment on the part of Justin Trudeau.” NDP MP Charlie Angus, July 9, 2020
Ever since Trudeau was elected Prime Minister, WE Charity had only ever received sole-source contracts from the Federal Government. It is also important to note that while previous governments had given grants to WE in the past, throughout Trudeau’s tenure as Prime Minister, the number of funds has quintupled.
July 9, 2020
When WE Charity was originally asked by reporters from CBC, they maintained that they had never paid an honorarium to anyone in Trudeau’s family. However, Canadaland once again uncovered documents relating to Margaret Trudeau and payments she directly received from WE.
As a result of this revelation, WE Charity confirmed to investigators that they had indeed paid the Prime Minister’s mother a total of $312,000 between 2016 and 2020. WE also confirmed that Alexandre Trudeau, Justin’s brother, had also been paid $40,000 between 2017 and 2018.
“The invoices obtained by Canadaland show the speaking agency billing Free the Children (the former name of WE Charity) in two parts for Margaret Trudeau’s speaking fee of $7,500. Under “engagement date,” the invoices specify September 20, 2017, the date of that year’s WE Day UN at The Theater at Madison Square Garden in New York, where Margaret Trudeau appeared on stage shortly before the prime minister.” — Jesse Brown, Canadaland July 9, 2020
The investigation by Canadaland brought light to the fact that WE Charity was using subsidiaries (Me to WE) and former organization names (Free the Children) to obfuscate payments made to the families of Canadian government officials. WE also maintains that Justin Trudeau had never been paid by WE Charity.
WE Charity admits that Finance Minister Bill Morneau’s daughters have also worked for the charity and have spoken at events. One of the co-founders of WE Charity, Marc Kielburger also publicly endorsed a book written by Morneau’s daughter Claire. Morneau was responsible for an earlier $3 Million grant in 2019 that was sent to WE Charity.
Trudeau and Morneau both admit to not recusing themselves from the Liberal cabinet’s decision to award the grant to WE. This contradicts their earlier statements that the decision to make WE Charity the administrator of the grant was made at the behest of the public service office.
July 10, 2020
The Federal Conservative Party requests the RCMP to investigate the Trudeau government’s involvement in the decision to award the grant to WE Charity.
Federal Conservative’s Call for RCMP Investigation Into WE Charity Scandal
As seen in the video, Michael Barrett, the CPC’s ethics critic makes the argument that what Trudeau and Morneau have facilitated along with the compensation that benefitted their families may raise the scandal to a criminal affair. This is specifically why they called for the ethics investigation and the RCMP investigation.
July 12, 2020
After calling for an RCMP investigation just days prior, the Conservatives requested that both Trudeau and Morneau testify in front of a parliamentary commission on the WE Charity scandal. They wanted to know where the idea of giving the grant to WE came from.
“He [The Prime Minister] needs to explain where exactly the idea came from — did the WE organization call him and suggest it, did it come through the staff in his office? Did it come out of his own head? Did members of his family, who have been paid by the organization suggest it to him? We need to hear from him directly on these questions because only he has the answers, only he knows how this came about and how it came to be.” — CPC MP Pierre Poilievre July 12, 2020
July 13–15, 2020
Justin Trudeau and Bill Morneau publicly apologize for their role in the decision to have WE Charity administer CSSG. Trudeau stated that he “made a mistake” by not “immediately” recusing himself from the decision making process. Morneau followed up on the Prime Minister’s statement by making his own in which he said that he now realized that he should have recused himself “in order to avoid any perception of conflict.”
WE charity themselves continued to justify the decision made by the Trudeau government in a statement, “We have 25 years of experience building youth service programs that are in 7,000 Canadian schools engaging students to support 3,000 plus charities and causes.” and also adding that the grant would only reimburse WE for the costs of facilitating the CSSG and that it did not provide the charity with a profit.
During this same period, Charity Intelligence, an independent charity watchdog downgraded WE Charity’s standing and gave them a “donor advisory warning”. This was partially due to the scandal but also had to with extreme abnormalities in the charity’s accounting stating that WE Charity has paid $11 million to ME to WE, their for-profit arm of the organization in the last ten years.
“I think it’s very unique, this complex structure between WE and ME to WE, and I’m not aware of situations where we see the charity giving money to the for-profit business” — Kate Bahen, Charity Intelligence Managing Director, July 15, 2020
WE Charity announced that they would be canceling their annual WE Day in Canadian schools saying that they would be focusing more on their international projects for the foreseeable future.
July 16, 2020
The Federal Ethics Commissioner Mario Dion officially announced a conflict-of-interest investigation into Bill Morneau. Dion said he was investigating whether Morneau broke any rules that prohibit politicians from making, or participating in, decisions that further their interests.
It is important to note that, as stated previously, Morneau’s daughter Claire Morneau had received an endorsement from the co-founder of WE Craig Kielburger on her book that she previously wrote and got published.
Liberal MP Bardish Chaggar was questioned by both CPC’s Pierre Poilivere and the NDP’s Charlie Angus with regard to her involvement in the scandal. Ms. Chaggar is the Liberal Government’s Minister of Diversity, Inclusion, and Youth. She has become part of the scandal because of her role in supposedly setting up the deal between WE and the Government.
July 17, 2020
The second House of Commons committee announced that they have started an investigation into the WE Charity scandal. Conservatives involved in that committee made a formal request to Ethics Commissioner Dion for all records relating to Trudeau and Morneau’s family’s involvement with the WE organization.
July 22, 2020
According to Global News Canada, the Trudeau government awarded the CSSG grant to WE Charity Foundation, and not WE Charity. This is an important distinction because WE Charity Foundation is a real-estate holding “shell company” that has zero ties to the legitimate charity organization.
The Prime Minister was questioned in Parliament over the revelation by Conservative Leader Andrew Scheer.
Conservative Leader Andrew Scheer Questions Prime Minister Justin Trudeau on WE Charity Scandal
Bill Morneau testified to the House of Commons Finance Commission that he had accepted $41,000 from WE for trips he and his family took in 2017. He also stated that he had paid them back on July 22, 2020.
He told committee members, “I expected and always had intended to pay the full cost of these trips, and it was my responsibility to make sure that was done…Not doing so, even unknowingly, is not appropriate. I want to apologize for this error on my part.”
Conservative MP Pierre Poilievre and others have publically called for Morneau to be fired or to resign due to his role in the scandal.
July 23, 2020
NDP Ethics Critic Charlie Angus had an eye-opening interview with CBC host Duncan McCue. In the interview, Angus made it known that both he and CPC MP Michael Barrett, had made an additional request to probe Finance Minister Bill Morneau to the Ethics Commissioner Mario Dion. This call for a second probe into the Finance Minister was due to his acceptance of the $41,000 in paid international vacation.
Both Angus and Barrett claim that the actions taken by Mr. Morneau were a severe breach of the Conflict of Interest Act and the Conflict of Interest Code.
In the interview Mr. Angus said this in regards to the Finance Minister;
“I think what was the most shocking was I asked Mr. Morneau a very simple question: Have you ever read the Conflict of Interest Act? And he seemed quite taken aback by that. He paused and he said: ‘Well, there were many acts that I saw when I first became elected.’ That, to me, is the heart of the problem. The Conflict of Interest Act and the Code [are] the rule book for members of Parliament. We’re expected to know these things.” — NDP MP Charlie Angus, July 23, 2020
July 29, 2020
The Globe and Mail revealed that WE Charity spent more than $600,000 on Republican consultants in an attempt to discredit Canadaland.
Canadaland reported that the wife and daughter of Finance Minister Bill Morneau flew from Nairobi to WE’s Bogani compound when the two visited Kenya in the summer of 2017.
The Conflict of Interest Act explicitly forbids ministers and their family members from accepting travel “on non-commercial chartered or private aircraft for any purpose,” with limited exceptions.
July 30, 2020
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is going to testify in this case today.
What Happens Next?
Students that had applied for the CSSG and had been accepted, to the point of having volunteer work lined up, are not going to be receiving funds through this program at this moment in time. This may mean that there will be fewer volunteers for charitable organizations to make use of.
The program was doomed from the beginning, due to paying students as volunteers below the federal minimum wage. It appears that both Trudeau and Morneau had a well-established conflict-of-interest, the real question is what is going to be done about it?
Trudeau is not unfamiliar with scandals and ethics investigations, and up to this point, they haven’t had a major hit on his approval rating or in national polling. The current LeanTossup model shows the Liberal Party as gaining 13 seats with the Conservatives losing 12. On July 24, after the Morneau testimony, Polling Canada showed that the Liberals still have a solid lead over the CPC.
The CBC reported on July 27 that the agreement between WE and the Federal Government set aside only $500 Million for student grants out of the $912 Million budget initially given to them.
Is MP Bardish Chaggar going to take the fall for both the Prime Minister and the Finance Minister? Is Mr. Morneau’s financial aptitude of “forgetting” to pay $41,000 critical enough for him to be removed from office? What will the consequences be for the Prime Minister if he is indeed found to have committed an offense of the Conflict of Interest Act?
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