Prime Minister Justin Trudeau told a House of Commons committee today that, despite his family’s ties with WE Charity, he did not place himself in a conflict of interest through his involvement in cabinet discussions on getting the charity to run a $900 million student grant program — but he apologized again for failing to recuse himself from those discussions.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and his chief of staff, Katie Telford, are questioned by MPs on the Commons finance committee over the decision to give WE Charity a contribution agreement for a $900-million student grant program. 0:00
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau told a House of Commons committee today that, despite his family’s ties with WE Charity, he did not place himself in a conflict of interest through his involvement in cabinet discussions on getting the charity to run a $900 million student grant program — but he apologized again for failing to recuse himself from those discussions.
“I was not in a position of conflict of interest. I apologized because of the perception [over] ties with my family. I should have recused myself,” Trudeau said in French.
Trudeau said that, when his government was working on the grant program, events related to the pandemic were moving fast and his government was sprinting to get programs out the door. He said that haste was part of the reason why he failed to recuse himself from cabinet discussions regarding WE Charity.
“That is certainly part of the context but I don’t think it is the whole reason why I didn’t recuse myself,” Trudeau said. “Youth issues have been something that I have been deeply involved with all my career, and I care deeply about the idea of youth service.”
Trudeau also claimed he slowed down the approval process for the grant program, pulling it from the May 8 cabinet meeting to give the public service more time to review it.
“I did not influence the public service to choose this organization. Indeed, when the public service came forward with this organization, I said, ‘You know what? Let’s put the brakes on that. Let’s make sure it’s done absolutely right because there are going to be questions of the connections with my family on this,'” he said.
“Yes, in hindsight I should have recused myself and perhaps the program would be delivering for students right across the country right now.”
On May 21, he said, public servants said they had done their due diligence and were confident in recommending WE Charity as the administrator.
“This proposal mattered to me and, instead of encouraging it along, as some people say, because it was somehow connected to my family, I actually slowed it down, pushed back on it, to try and make sure that everything was done exactly right,” he said. “Because I knew there would be questions asked because of the links to the family.
“But in no way was this benefiting my mother or my brother, to be creating a grant program for students to volunteer in their communities right across the country.”
Watch: Trudeau says he only learned of WE proposal on May 8:
In his opening statement Prime Minister JustinTrudeau said he had expected the Canada Service Corps would deliver the Canada Student Service Grant, and first learned on May 8 that WE Charity was being proposed to deliver the program. 3:25
Trudeau also said he does not know the details of his family members’ private business interests or how much money they might have received in expenses from WE Charity.
“My mother and my brother are professionals in their own right who have engagements and have for many, many years, with many different organizations across the country, and I don’t have t