BREAKING: Trudeau announces $19 billion plan to lift Canada out of lockdown

"Fight COVID-19 has always been a team Canada effort," said Trudeau. "Our government will invest over $19 billion to make sure that Canadians have the support that the need."

The government has identified seven priority areas that will receive funding. These include helping seniors, creating safe physical distancing spaces, and the creation of health equipment. Transit, in particular, will have a great deal of funding.

Trudeau also confirmed that the United States and Canada had agreed to closing the Canadian-American border for another month.

In the press conference, Trudeau faced questions over his role in the WE Charity scandal. When the deputy prime minister Chrystia Freeland was asked questions over the scandal, she seemed keen to distance herself from the prime minister.

Trudeau has recently been dogged by the WE scandal since he announced his intention to award the charity a contract worth over $900 million. This immediately attracted attention as it was unclear why the civil service could not perform the task allocated to the charity.

After this, the relationship between the WE organization and the Trudeau government was brought to the public's attention. Trudeau, it turns out, was personal friends with the co-founders. His wife hosted a podcast for the organization; his close family had received money from the charity, and he had appeared at multiple events hosted by the organization.

It didn't stop at Trudeau. The Finance Minister Bill Morneau, for instance, had two children who either worked for the charity or were promoted by it. Katie Telford (who works as Trudeau's chief-of-staff) created a charity that fundraised on behalf of WE. Minister O'Regan served as that charity's honorary head.

Neither Trudeau, O'Regan, Morneau or Telford recused themself from the decision to award the charity this contract—leading to an investigation by the Ethics Commissioner. If Trudeau is found guilty, this would be his third violation.

All of this attracted attention to the Trudeau government's proposed contract. If the civil service were up to the task, why did they award a contract to a charity that is essentially apart of the Liberal establishment apparatus.