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WE charity deal: Justin Trudeau to appear before parliamentary panel for questioning
Trudeau has suffered a double-digit dive in his popularity in the country since the controversy erupted. But 56 per cent of Canadian think the government will survive.
Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau will appear before a parliamentary panel on Thursday to face questions in a probe relating to the grant of a nearly billion dollar contract to a charity with links to him and his family. Trudeau has suffered a double-digit dive in his popularity in the country since the controversy erupted.
Trudeau will face questioning from the finance committee of the House of Commons on Thursday for an hour. His Chief of Staff Katie Telford will be grilled after that. There is still no word from the Prime Minister’s Office whether he will also appear before the House of Commons ethics committee which is also investigating the matter of the CA $912 million contract to WE Charity to administer a summer youth volunteer programme. The contract was cancelled after the uproar over Trudeau’s personal connection to the organisation, with his mother, brother and wife being paid fees at various times. Canada’s Conflict of Interest and Ethics Commissioner is also looking into the issue.
Trudeau is already paying a political price for the contract even after he apologised for not recusing himself when the cabinet decided on the contract. According to a new survey from the non-profit Angus Reid Institute or ARI, Trudeau’s approval ratings have dropped from 55 per cent in May to 44 per cent now, with more citizens holding a negative view of him.
“More troublingly, half of Canadians (53%) say that their opinion of the Prime Minister has worsened in the past month or so,” ARI noted in a release. Trudeau’s approval numbers had rebounded due to the perception of effective handling of the health crisis caused by the Covid-19 pandemic. However, those gains have vanished courtesy the WE charity controversy.
ARI pointed out that a plurality of 43 per cent said the Trudeau government “knowingly committed an unethical act”, while another 37 per cent felt its decisions “constitute a possibly criminal act that warrants investigation by police.” Just 12 per cent were willing to accept it as a error in judgement. The country’s finance minister Bill Morneau is also the subject of probes related to his own links to the charity. He has already appeared before the finance committee.
However, this also does not mean that Canadians believe that the Liberal Party government will collapse as more revelations come. In fact, 56 per cent think the government will survive the scandal, though with Trudeau’s image badly battered.
