Finance Minister Bill Morneau set to testify on deal with WE Charity
Posted July 22, 2020 1:00 am.
Last Updated July 22, 2020 1:02 am.
OTTAWA — Finance Minister Bill Morneau will appear today before a House of Commons committee that is probing a cancelled agreement for WE Charity to run a student-volunteer program.
Morneau has apologized for not recusing himself from the cabinet discussions and vote on the agreement, given his daughters have ties to the organization.
He will be the latest cabinet minister to be grilled over the aborted deal that would have seen WE receive more than $43.5 million to oversee a program with a budget of up to $912 million.
Morneau, like Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, is being investigated by the federal ethics watchdog for possible violations of conflict of interest rules.
On Tuesday, Canada’s top bureaucrat said he couldn’t see not having the finance minister and prime minister involved in discussions about a program as big in scope and price as the Canada Student Service Grant program.
The program proposed paying students up to $5,000 toward education costs based on the number of hours they volunteer.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published July 22, 2020.
The Canadian Press
