GAFFES AND SCANDALS: Liberals' WE drama an unforgettable mess

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The WE scandal — which led to two investigations by the Ethics Commissioner and a deep examination of the federal awarding of a contract by the Parliamentary Ethics Committee — has been costly to the Liberals, who lost Finance Minister Bill Morneau a year ago because of his personal links to the charity.

During the federal election campaign, the Sun is highlighting some of the scandals surrounding the Trudeau government, including the WE Charity scandal, which led to the departure of Morneau.

The WE Charity was awarded a $43.5 million contract to administer a new $913-million Canada Student Summer Grant program.

Launched just after the pandemic started, the program was a way to “allow 20,000 young people to participate in service projects over three months and earn a stipend,” according to Ethics Commissioner Mario Dion.

Commissioner Dion concluded, “the relationship between Mr. Morneau and WE included an unusually high degree of involvement between their representatives and afforded WE unfettered access … which amounted to preferential treatment.”

Not only were the two friends (Morneau and WE co-founder Craig Kielburger) — Dion concluded — but Kielburger was also a constituent.

Morneau’s youngest daughter also worked for WE.

“As soon as Mr. Morneau was advised that WE would likely play an important role in the student relief initiative, he should have recused himself from that point onwards from Cabinet discussions and decision making.“

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Opposition parties also decried WE’s links to the Trudeau family. The Prime Minister’s mother and brother pocketed hundreds of thousands speaking at WE events.

Dion cleared the prime minister of conflict of interest.

The parliamentary ethics committee made a barrage of recommendations — in a 116-page report — to prevent conflicts of interest in awarding federal contracts.

Opposition parties — who wanted an RCMP investigation — also accused the Liberals of hindering their investigation by offering ministerial witnesses unable to answer questions because they had no link to the way WE had been awarded the lucrative contract.