Wednesday, July 15, 2020

Mid-Week Post




Your middle-of-the-week moment of clarity ...




It never ends:

According to a Postmedia report, Trudeau directly invited the WE Charity to host the 2017 Canada Day weekend event in Ottawa.

WE was paid $1.18 million of our taxpayer dollars to host.

Trudeau’s mother, Margaret, spoke at the event, which took place amid the same time in which she was being paid to speak at multiple WE events.

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Prime Minister Justin Trudeau faces multiple parliamentary investigations over his handling of a sole-sourced contract to WE Charity, but unlike during the SNC-Lavalin scandal he could be forced to testify about his actions.

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The federal government awarded Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s half-brother a $12,430 contract last year to speak and take part in a cryptocurrency conference in Switzerland.

Kyle Kemper says he was asked to be the “champion speaker” at the Crypto Valley Blockchain Conference in Zug, Switzerland, because of his expertise, and that the contract had nothing to do with his family. Mr. Kemper was previously the executive director of the Blockchain Association of Canada and he wrote a book called The Unified Wallet: Unlocking the Digital Golden Age.

Mr. Kemper is the son of Margaret Trudeau, the Prime Minister’s mother, from her marriage with Fried Kemper.

The Prime Minister’s Office said the contract was approved by the public service at Global Affairs Canada and the Prime Minister “had no involvement.” However, opposition MPs said the Liberal government should explain how the contract was awarded. Mr. Trudeau has been under fire for his involvement in awarding management of a $900-million program to WE Charity, which has close ties to the Liberals and Trudeau family members.
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Federal opposition parties are demanding to know why the Liberal government created a $900-million program to help students find volunteer positions rather than putting the much-needed funds into an existing summer jobs program.

Would this be the same program that made people sign away their beliefs?

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(Sidebar: please see here.)

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When WE Charity got the sole-sourced contract for $912 million from the Trudeau government, they felt secure in telling media outlets that they had not paid members of the Trudeau family. Their corporate sponsor ME to WE paid those fees.
 
So how is ME to WE different? It is a privately held “social enterprise.” That’s a nice way of saying it is a private company set up to do good. It is also essential to the WE universe and Kielburger Inc.
ME to WE is the organization that pays Craig and Marc Kielburger; WE Charity says they have never taken money from the charity. ME to WE is also a sprawling business intertwined with everything WE does.

If you get inspired about the women in the developing world struggling to start a small business, then you can buy a bracelet from ME to WE. You can buy their ethically sourced coffee and chocolate at top grocery retailers across the country.

And if you are really motivated, then you can book a trip with them to travel to one of their sites to help build schools for WE Charity. All travel supplied by ME to WE.

They also run camps for children, families and teachers right here is Canada. There is a speakers bureau where your organization can book the Kielburger boys or one of their top staff to speak at your corporate event.

They even offer leadership training and curriculum for schools.

All of this is through the for-profit part of Kielburger Inc. Despite legally being separate entities, I have a great deal of difficulty seeing how ME to WE survives unless WE Charity is there.

The organization is quick to point out that ME to WE “donates half of its net profit to support WE Charity.” The problem is, that’s a fluid term.

Who knows how much money they take in? Who knows what they claim as profit versus actual cost?
Well, the folks at ME to WE know and they have been vetted by some very respected people who issue glowing letters and reports, void of any real detail, telling you that this organization is top-notch.

Those letters, many of which the folks in the WE universe have sent me, read like sales brochures not audits.

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What does any of this even mean:

WE Charity reports that $265,921,623 of social value was created globally in F2018 by youth involved in the WE Schools program. In surveys of U.S. and Canadian educators, WE Charity found that through its domestic programs, 90% of students demonstrated increased leadership amongst their peers and 83% of teachers feel better equipped to teach about social justice issues.

WE Charity reports that over 200 women were empowered in F2018 through a new Women’s Empowerment Centre in Kenya. The centre has a computer lab, banking facility, artisan production space, and daycare.

So, wells were dug? Micro-loans given out? Hospitals built? What is "social value"?

Does it mean this?:




To recap:

Morale within the organization had been low for weeks, with longtime staff members being shown the door as the global health crisis deepened.

Then news started circulating within the organization of a significant federal government contract. The Liberal government’s $19.5-million deal for WE to operate a $900-million student volunteering grant program turned the mood around ...

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Cabinet was to pay Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s favourite charity “about $20 million” to manage a national grant program. The Department of Employment yesterday would not detail terms of the sole-sourced contract cancelled following a public outcry: “It is not surprising to me they got paid.”

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(Sidebar: why does that sound familiar? Oh, yes ...)


And:

There’s Finance Minister Bill Morneau, who earlier forgot he had a French villa, saying he should have recused himself from the gigantic sole-sourced handout to a charity his daughter worked for “to avoid any perception of conflict.” Although she works in “an unrelated branch.” And “I now realize.” So he wasn’t really wrong. But here’s the kicker: “I apologize for not doing so, and moving forward, I will recuse myself from any further discussions related to WE.” Just that? What of other things where there might be that blasted “perception of conflict” from the rabble not to the manor born?

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“Well, there was some reflection carried out by myself and others, in terms of the fact that the connections with the family meant that we had to be careful and made sure we did things right,” Trudeau said.

Meaning, he knew it could be a problem and he did it anyway. Just like Finance Minister Bill Morneau, Natural Resources Minister Seamus O’Regan and Trudeau’s Chief of Staff Katie Telford. All of them had close connections to WE and should not have been involved in awarding a contract of this size.



Also:
Non-profit groups that wanted to use Canada Student Services Grant to hire volunteers say they have not heard a peep from the federal government since WE Charity walked away from managing the $912-million program almost two weeks ago.

The rest of the article is a sweeping sob story how, without this corruption, children will suffer.

Or something.

 




From the least transparent government ever re-elected:

The Department of Transport is withholding figures on the most heavily subsidized transportation service of its kind in Canada. Taxpayers overall pay a subsidy of nearly $400 for every vehicle aboard federally-owned ferries in rural Atlantic ports, according to auditors: “The funding program does not align well with Transport Canada’s policy.”

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The Canada Revenue Agency should publicly disclose the scope of fraud under the $71.3 billion Canada Emergency Response Benefit program, the Senate national finance committee said yesterday. The Agency to date has refused to detail the number of false claims for $2,000 pandemic relief cheques: “Some individuals may be taking advantage.”

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The Commons health committee last night ordered the Public Health Agency to surrender all records regarding its mismanagement of a $300 million national stockpile of pandemic supplies. The Agency had invoked national security in refusing to disclose documents or explain why it landfilled millions of masks prior to the pandemic: “Open up, be transparent.”

Like Patty should be:

Health Minister Patricia Hajdu repeatedly flew home by government aircraft on weekends while advising Canadians not to travel. Flight records show Hajdu made solo trips from Ottawa to her residence in Thunder Bay even while telling the public: “Do not go visit your family, do not visit your friends, do not go out and about unless it’s essential.”

See, it's alright when some people do it.


Also - JJ McCullough is a national treasure:


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It's just a trillion dollars. Easy-squeezy:

Taxpayers in pre-pandemic polling told the Department of Finance they were vaguely worried about federal overspending. The research was conducted only weeks before the Covid-19 recession saw cabinet run the biggest deficit in Canadian history: “If the government seemed oblivious to the deficit when the economy was doing well, what would happen when the government might have to deal with a recession down the road?” 


Also:

A week after Ottawa revealed the federal government expects to post a $343-billion deficit in 2021, the United States and Britain announced their own record-high deficit predictions.

Double the population but even a trillion dollars in debt, we're the good guys.

Right.




Nope:

The family of a Canadian orphan living at a camp for ISIS detainees in Syria filed legal action against the federal government on Tuesday, alleging Ottawa is violating her rights by not bringing her home.




Did you hear about any of this?:
Boston police are investigating an arson attack on a statue of the Blessed Virgin Mary Saturday night, the second attack in the U.S. on a statue of the Virgin Mary in two days, and during the same weekend in which two Catholic church fires are being investigated for arson.

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A man in St. Louis has been charged with four counts of fourth-degree assault after police say he threw punches at people praying and defending a statue of St. Louis during a recent protest. Terrence Page, 34, admitted to News 4 that he threw the punches, saying, “Real change doesn’t happen unless you take those risks.”

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The fire that ravaged Mission San Gabriel Arcángel church in the predawn hours of Saturday, July 11, left behind a haunting scene.

In a matter of minutes, the mission’s 230-year-old roof was nearly gone. The sunlight pouring down through the holes revealed the charred planks that had crashed down on the church’s pews. The altar, along with the mission’s bell tower and museum were spared, but the thick adobe walls were blackened.

As bad as the damage is, it could have been worse. Because the church had been undergoing renovations, much of the artwork in the sanctuary, including historic paintings and other devotional artifacts, had been removed prior to the fire.

But for Anthony Morales, tribal chief of the San Gabrielino Mission Indians and a parishioner of San Gabriel, the damage was more than material.

“These are my roots,” said Morales, holding back tears as he surveyed the scene just hours after the fire had been contained. “This is my church. All my ancestors are buried in the cemetery next door. Six thousand of my ancestors are buried on these grounds, and this is the church that they built. It’s just very devastating.”

Me, neither.




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