Trudeau To Testify At Finance Committee Over WE Charity Controversy
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is headed for the hot seat this week.
Trudeau and his chief of staff, Katie Telford, will testify before the House of Commons finance committee Thursday on the Liberal government’s decision to award WE Charity a since-scrapped deal to administer a major student-grant program.
According to the meeting notice posted online Monday, Trudeau is scheduled to speak with the committee for one hour Thursday afternoon. Telford will address the group immediately after the prime minister.
The 12-member committee includes six Liberal MPs (including chair, veteran MP Wayne Easter), four Tory MPs, one Bloc MP, and one NDP MP.
Watch: Trudeau pummelled with questions about WE Charity deal
The committee is examining the abandoned deal with WE Charity, which fell apart earlier this month amid questions about Trudeau’s personal ties to the Toronto-based international organization. Trudeau has appeared at several WE events over the years and his wife, Sophie Grégoire Trudeau, is an “ambassador” and hosts a podcast for the organization.
It was also revealed by Canadaland and CBC News that members of the Trudeau family have received tens of thousands of dollars for speaking at WE Charity events in recent years.
WE Charity said this month that Margaret Trudeau, the prime minister’s mother and a mental-health advocate, received “a total of approximately $250,000 in speaking honorariums” for speaking at 28 WE Charity events between 2016 and 2020. Alexandre Trudeau, the prime minister’s brother, received $32,000. Those figures do not include a 20 per cent commission to the Speakers’ Spotlight Bureau.
WE Charity also said Grégoire Trudeau received a “one-time speaking honorarium of $1,400” in 2012.
Trudeau has said that while he knew his mother and brother worked as professional public speakers and wasn’t surprised they were paid for appearing at WE events, he didn’t know the details of their payments.
