WE Charity founders to appear before Commons committee

The brothers will speak on Tuesday about their cancelled federal government contract which was initially intended to distribute millions of dollars for a student grant program.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced on June 25, that the $912 million government program would be administered by WE Charity. The program was initiated in order to place many thousands of students into volunteering positions throughout Canada and pay them up to $5,000 for working 500 hours.

On Monday, the organization released a statement announcing that the brothers would look over the controversial partnership before MPs.

"A lot of things have been written and said about WE Charity over the last few weeks," reads the statement. "We look forward to an opportunity to talk directly to Canadians and set the record straight."

In early July, after it was relieved that Prime Minister Trudeau had close family connections to the charity and so did Finance Minister Bill Morneau. The deal was cancelled after the information came to light.

Trudeau's mother, Margaret was paid $250,000 to speak at about 28 WE events taking place between 2016 and 2020. His brother, Alexandre was also paid about $32,000 to speak at eight events between 2017 and 2018.

Morneau has one daughter who currently works at WE Charity and another who has previously spoken at WE events.

Trudeau and Morneau were both involved in cabinet discussions involving WE Charity though they claim that WE was recommended as the only organization that could administer the large amount of funds.

Trudeau and Morneau have been called on by the Conservatives to make an appearance before the committee. So far, Morneau has agreed to do so but Trudeau has not.

The House of Commons ethics committee is contemplating whether to look into the preventative measures that are currently in place to avoid similar government conflict of interest.