The WE Scandal, Redux

It's testifying day for the Kielburgers (as we speak). They initially insisted on one hour until members of Parliament threatened them with summons.

Justin is scheduled to give a one hour monologue on how wonderful WE and he are.

(Sidebar: yeah, I know - one hour.)

I doubt his performance will be any better than his plastics box thingy response.

A primer on the particulars of this ever-expanding and expensive scandal.

Margaret Trudeau was given a total amount of $479,944 for speaking at WE events:

(Sidebar: prior to the 2015 election, Justin refused to reimburse a charity that lost money until the scandal came to light and he was embarrassed into doing so.)

A former WE chairwoman testified earlier today that she resigned after hundreds of staff were laid off and that such an event was not a normal course of business:

WE Charity’s former Canadian board of directors, Michelle Douglas, told MPs earlier Tuesday that she quit in March because executives wouldn’t hand over financial documents to explain why it was firing hundreds of staff, and “I could not do my job.” She also said the board’s understanding was that guests at WE Day events were not paid, as the Prime Minister’s wife, mother and brother were over a period of several years.

Gradually being unearthed, the possibility that the Liberal government was bailing out WE:

A Liberal-appointed senator yesterday cited Prime Minister Justin Trudeau for “ethical failings” in dealing with We Charity. “Did the Trudeau government want to use public funds to come to the rescue of the organization?” said Senator Julie Miville-Dechêne (Independent-Que.): “The conflict of interest is glaring.”

**

WE was to be allocated $912 million by the Liberal government, a massive amount of taxpayer money.

The government could have paid them up to $43.5 million to administer the program.

The entire (public) point of the program was to provide student grants.

The government repeatedly said it was a $912 million program.

So why would only $500 million be set aside for actual grants?

**

The contract also called for the government to pay WE $19.5 million on July 1, 2020 and a second payment of $13,530,000 on July 2 unless either party had withdrawn from the agreement.

Essentially, WE was set to be paid up-front in this contract whether work was done or not.

After withdrawing from the contract on July 3, WE stated that all money had been returned.

As reported last week, the agreement was actually not signed with WE Charity, the main group known for helping build schools and clean water systems but rather WE Charity Foundation, an organization set up to hold the massive real estate holdings on WE and other charities.

(Sidebar: more here.)

**

Will China ditch WE as the Royal Bank of Canada did?:

Citing testimonials from an authoritarian regime’s chief print and television organs, though, is only one way the co-founder of the WE movement has forged ties with China.

WE Charity and its for-profit partner, Me to We, have had a significant presence there for years, performing development work in poor rural villages, holding at least two “mini” versions of their inspirational WE Day events and selling trips to Chinese youth that combined tourism and volunteer work.

 

(Sidebar: read the whole thing and be reminded of Justin's undying love for China's basic dictatorship.)

This China:

China is stepping up military preparedness to overtake Taiwan, the island's Foreign Minister Joseph Wu said on Wednesday, following a recent spike of Chinese drills near the island which Beijing considers its own.

Taiwan has complained that China has stepped up threatening military activities near Taiwan in recent months. Beijing has not renounced the use of force to bring the democratic island under its control.

"Looking on the long-term trend, China appears to be gradually stepping up its military preparedness, especially in air or on the waters near Taiwan," Wu told reporters.

"What China is doing now is continuing to ramp up preparedness to solve the Taiwan issue," he said.

"The threat is on the rise."

There is something about China and WE that inspires group-think.

Also:

A proposal by WE Charity to pay teachers $12,000 for recruiting student volunteers into the Canada Student Service Grant program would have put many teachers in violation of their professional code of conduct, experts say.

But even though the grant program is now being run by the federal government instead of WE, it’s unclear whether the $12,000 payments might still happen. A week after the National Post asked Employment and Social Development Canada if the teacher payments are happening, the department still hasn’t answered.

(Merci beaucoup)