Over the last few weeks Canadians have heard a lot about Justin Trudeau’s $900 million scandal. New details emerge every day that paint a concerning picture of corruption at the highest levels of government.
While there are many facts we still don’t know, one thing is crystal clear – the program at the heart of this scandal, the Canada Student Service Grant – was never about helping students. It was about bailing out Justin Trudeau’s friends at the WE group of organizations.
The cozy relationship between Justin Trudeau, his Finance Minister Bill Morneau, the Liberal Party and WE Charity dates back over a decade. During that time, Justin Trudeau and his family have attended more than 50 WE events. The Morneau’s have taken two illegal luxury vacations paid for by WE. WE employs a member of Morneau’s family. And since Justin Trudeau became Prime Minister, WE has paid members of the Trudeau family more than half a million dollars.
In the past five years, Justin Trudeau’s government has given WE millions of taxpayers’ dollars and he has personally acted as a prominent booster for the organization. In exchange, WE has given Justin Trudeau and the Liberal Party a platform to promote their policies and to speak directly with millions of young people – all potential future Liberal voters.
When the pandemic hit, Justin Trudeau saw an opportunity to help his friends at WE. Under the guise of helping students, he handed almost a billion dollars of your money to a real estate shell company, that had no experience delivering youth programming.
The excuses that Justin Trudeau rattled off when he testified at Finance Committee last week were just an attempt to deflect blame and avoid responsibility.
The timeline in his version of events doesn’t add up. The Canada Student Service Grant was announced on April 22nd. A member of the Prime Minister’s Office spoke with WE about their proposal on May 5th, the same day WE was allowed to start charging expenses for administering the program. But cabinet didn’t approve the proposal until May 22nd – two and a half weeks later!
So who told WE that they would be approved? And why were they allowed to start charging expenses in advance?
Justin Trudeau claims the he pulled the WE proposal from the May 8th cabinet agenda and sent it back for further scrutiny. But its clear that that additional scrutiny didn’t take place. A quick Google search would have shown the many problems facing the organization and should have disqualified them from receiving government funding. No one is buying that members of the public service recommended them unprompted. Trudeau’s ‘explanations’ sounds like the ‘dog ate my homework,’ kind of last-minute excuses.
So where does that leave us? And who is being held accountable?
Trudeau has already been found guilty of breaking ethics laws twice. Now he’s under investigation for the third time. His Finance Minister Bill Morneau is also under investigation. And Conservatives have written to the RCMP and the Lobbying Commissioner asking them to investigate.
Since Justin Trudeau shut down Parliament until at least the fall, there is no way currently for Opposition parties to take down the government. But Liberal MPs have a choice to make. They can sacrifice their personal integrity to protect corruption, or they can take a stand and demand that Trudeau and Morneau step aside.
Rest assured that Conservatives will continue to hold Justin Trudeau and his government accountable. We will keep fighting for the answers that Canadians deserve.
Written by The Honourable Andrew Scheer is the Leader of Canada’s Conservatives and the Member of Parliament for Regina-Qu’Appelle.