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‘Not in a position of conflict of interest’: Trudeau on WE Charity controversy
He said he “should have recused” himself from the Cabinet meeting where the decision was taken to give the contract to WE Charity.
Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has asserted before the House of Commons Finance Committee that there was no conflict of interest involved in granting a nearly billion dollar contract to WE charity which had links to him and his family.
Trudeau who appeared via videoconferencing before the committee said, “I was not in a position of conflict of interest,” as quoted by the outlet CBC News. In fact, he stressed that he had asked the public service, the Canadian bureaucrats dealing with the matter, to exercise due diligence because of the connections he personally had with the organisation WE Charity.
Speaking in French, Trudeau told the Committee that he had “apologized because of the perception” of ties to his “family”. He said he “should have recused” himself from the Cabinet meeting where the decision was taken to give the contract to WE Charity. Trudeau appeared for about an hour-and-a-half for questioning by members of the Finance Committee and was followed by his Chief of Staff Katie Telford.
The contract given to WE Charity was cancelled after furor erupted citing links between Trudeau, his family and WE Charity. His wife, mother and brother had been paid fees by the organisation several times.
Trudeau denied knowledge of these activities. He said, “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 the details of their work experiences or expenses.”
Trudeau also said he believed that the Canada Service Corps would be able to deliver the youth volunteership programme but was informed by the public service that it would not be able to scale up to deliver at that time.
“In fact, they said if we wanted this program to happen, it could only be with WE Charity. The choice was not between providers. It was between going ahead with WE Charity to deliver the program or not going ahead with the program at all,” he added.
The controversy has roiled Canadian politics in recent weeks and severely dented Trudeau’s popularity. He is also being investigated by the country’s Conflict of Interest and Ethics Commissioner.
