Craig and Marc Kielburger said today a parliamentary committee’s study into WE Charity is nothing short of a political trial and accused MPs of trying to score political points at the expense of children around the world.
The brothers delivered their indictment of the House of Commons ethics committee probe this afternoon as they defended WE’s operations and structure and its since-cancelled agreement with the federal government to manage a student grant program.
“Let us be clear — this hearing is a trial and a public one at that,” Marc Kielburger said during his opening statement to the committee. “Without recognizing our right to present our own evidence, this committee is trying WE Charity in the court of public opinion and forcing testimony.”
Marc said the Kielburgers acted on the best intentions when they agreed to help the federal Liberal government run the multimillion-dollar Canada Student Services Grant program, which has since been cancelled.
WE was given a $543 million sole-sourced contract that would have paid it up to $43.5 million to run the program. The program was meant to cover up to $5,000 in education costs for students who volunteer during the pandemic. The contract also stipulated that WE would not make money on the arrangement.
WE Charity pulled out of the deal — and the program eventually was cancelled — after conflict of interest allegations surfaced due to close ties between WE and Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, former finance minister Bill Morneau and members of their families.
“Given a chance to do good for 100,000 students and other charities during the pandemic, WE Charity agreed to help,” Marc said.
“We didn’t advise the prime minister and Mr. Morneau not to recuse themselves. We never prorogued Parliament. We were not involved in the decision to filibuster this committee last fall. This is a political scandal for the government, not for WE Charity.”
Marc Kielburger said the Toronto-based organization is a casualty of opposition parties’ efforts to undermine the government by attacking the deal with WE. He blasted NDP ethics critic Charlie Angus in particular for having asked the RCMP and Canada Revenue Agency to look into its operations.
He also took aim at both the Conservatives and the Liberal government, which he accusing of having “hid behind a children’s charity by letting it take the fall for their political decisions — and the opposition allowed them.”
The two brothers are scheduled to testify for three hours.
