WE Charity Contracts With Liberal Government Should Be Reviewed By Procurement Watchdog, Conservatives Say

Conservatives are calling on the federal procurement watchdog to review several sole-sourced contracts between the Liberal government and WE Charity, the international, youth-based organization recently tapped to administer a $900-million student-grant program.

In a letter sent Thursday to Procurement Ombudsman Alexander Jeglic, Tory MPs Kelly Block, Dan Albas, and Raquel Dancho said “justifiable concerns” have been raised about the government’s decision to outsource the program to a third-party with links to the prime minister and his family.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced last week that the WE Charity was selected to manage the Canada Student Service Grant program, which will provide eligible post-secondary students and recent graduates with up to $5,000 for volunteer work in programs related to the COVID-19 pandemic.The program is meant to place up to 20,000 students in volunteer positions between now and October.

Though Trudeau said WE was selected by the public service because it is the “only” organization with the network to deliver the program “on the scale we needed,” he is facing accusations of cronyism over the decision. The government will pay WE Charity $19.5 million to administer the program, but Trudeau has said the organization will not make any profit.

The prime minister, his wife, Sophie Grégoire Trudeau and his mother, Margaret Trudeau, have appeared at WE events in recent years. Grégoire Trudeau also volunteers as a WE “ambassador” and hosts a WE podcast on mental health that has also featured the prime minister’s mother.

Watch: Trudeau says We Charity the ‘only’ organization capable of running grant program

In their letter, the Tory MPs listed five other sole-sourced contracts between the charity and the federal government since...

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