Prime Minister Justin Trudeau will indeed testify on the WE organization controversy.
The Office of the Prime Minister says Trudeau has accepted the invitation to testify in front of the Commons Finance Committee surrounding the agreement to have the WE organization run the country’s $900 million student volunteer grant program.
The Prime Minister has come under fire due to the WE charity’s connections to the Trudeau family.
Members of the Trudeau family including the Prime Minister’s mother and brother were each formerly paid thousands of dollars for speaking engagements with WE.
A date and a time are not yet known for the Prime Minister’s testimony.
Meanwhile, Finance Minister Bill Morneau has now cut a $41,336 cheque back to WE related to travel expenses.
According to reports, ahead of his own testimony, Morneau says he was surprised that he couldn’t account for “tens of thousands of dollars in expenses related to accommodations and other charges the organization covered” for the Minister.
The $41,336 in question is reportedly related to a trip to Ecuador in 2017 to witness some humanitarian work being done by the organization.
Morneau says he has sent the information to the ethics commissioner.
According to new reports, the Conservative ethics critic has also sent a letter to the ethics commissioner requesting a second ethics probe against Morneau.
The WE organization has released their own statement in recent days saying they believe they were the appropriate choice to handle the Canada Student Services Grant.
“The delivery of the CSSG program is perfectly aligned with WE’s mandate, and after 25 years of experience, we knew that our abilities and infrastructure could deliver this ambitious program,” reads a statement from WE co-founders Craig and Marc Kielburger, Marc Kielburger.
