Why Does This Sound Familiar?

According to a new report, the WE Charity has decided to use some of that money to give 450 ‘online student-volunteer placements’ to THEMSELVES.

That’s right.

They’re taking your tax dollars, and then paying themselves to create volunteer positions.

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WE Charity has pulled out of its agreement with the Trudeau government to manage a $912-million student volunteer grant contract after a week of controversy.

“The decision taken by WE this morning to withdraw from this work with the government is one that we support. Obviously, the way this situation has unfolded has been unfortunate. We will continue to work hard to make sure that young people get the opportunities to serve their country, but it will no longer be with the WE organization,” Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said during a press conference at a food bank in Gatineau Friday.

(Sidebar: no mention of his guilt or involvement. It's always someone else's fault.)

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Trudeau says independent federal bureaucrats determined that only the We Charity could effectively administer the grant and his family’s long-standing relationship with We played no part in their decision.

Nor did the fact the Kielburger brothers are held in high esteem by Trudeau, indicated by the fact that, for example, Craig Kilburger was a member of the advisory board that organized the 2019 election leadership debates.

Trudeau’s problem is one of perception. ...

Despite Trudeau’s insistence he had nothing to do with awarding the grant, Marc Kielburger said last month it was the Prime Minister’s Office that contacted the charity about running the program in April (he was recorded on a conference call obtained by the National Post).

Kielburger now says he misspoke and that it was unelected federal bureaucrats.

There’s We paying teachers who didn’t lose their jobs because of COVID-19 $12,000 to recruit and mentor a minimum of 75 students, who will be paid $10 an hour — below the minimum wage — for doing volunteer work this summer and fall, up to a maximum of $5,000 for 500 hours of work.

On Thursday, the Globe and Mail reported We itself will offer 450 jobs to students to do “virtue volunteering” — working on computers from home.

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WE Charity offered Canadian summer camps up to $25,000 in grants as part of the $912-million federal student volunteer program it was awarded by the Liberal government, before cancelling the deal Friday, but only if they brought in no fewer than 75 volunteers over a few months, National Post has learned.

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The reasons for the resignations in WE's upper ranks remain unclear. The former Canadian chair of the board of directors, Michelle Douglas, tweeted that she resigned on March 27 and that "almost all" of those on the Canadian and American boards resigned or were replaced around the same time. 

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For the third time in five years, the federal Ethics Commissioner is investigating Prime Minister Justin Trudeau. This time, he will probe Trudeau’s handing of the government’s decision to outsource a $900-million student volunteer grant to WE Charity.

Conflict of Interest and Ethics Commissioner Mario Dion confirmed Friday that he that he had accepted requests from both the Conservatives and New Democrats to investigate the WE Charity deal.

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The problem is only Trudeau, not the ethics commissioner, can invoke meaningful sanctions against Liberal cabinet ministers who violate the Conflict of Interest Act.

And Trudeau has been investigated by the ethics commissioner, and found guilty of breaking the law, more times than any other Trudeau cabinet minister.

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MP Pierre Poilievre says the Conservatives aren’t looking to force an election over the Liberal government’s $900-million deal with WE Charity, which was called off on Friday.

(Sidebar: there one has it. There are no means to unseat a criminal in office. Thanks, Fathers of Confederation.)


Oh, yes:

You would think after his Aga Khan fiasco, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau would understand the need to avoid both conflicts of interests and the appearance of conflicts of interest when his government gives millions of taxpayers’ dollars to charities.

His failure to do so resulted in him becoming Canada’s first prime minister found by the federal ethics commissioner to have violated four sections of the Conflict of Interest Act since the legislation was passed in 2006.

That happened in 2016 and early 2017 after Trudeau, his family and Liberal guests accepted free vacations on the Aga Khan’s private island in the Bahamas, while his government was discussing giving a $15-million grant to one of the Aga Khan’s charitable foundations, which also got tens of millions of dollars in other grants from his government.

Now Trudeau is in a new controversy involving more than $900 million in sole-sourced government contracts to the We Charity, founded by brothers Craig and Marc Kielburger, to which Trudeau and his family have ties going back a decade.

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The Clerk of the Privy Council has determined that cabinet confidence is more important than a police investigation into obstruction of justice in a case involving corruption. Ian Shugart, the clerk, invoked cabinet confidence to block the Mounties from talking to people.

That was confirmed to the Globe not only by a spokesman for the justice department but also a spokesman for Trudeau himself.