Justin Trudeau’s costly and misguided decision not to recuse himself from the CSSG approval process and how he completely abandoned
WE Charity during the controversy that followed.
Prime Minister of Canada
Justin Trudeau’s costly and misguided decision not to recuse himself from the CSSG approval process and how he completely abandoned
WE Charity during the controversy that followed.
If Prime Minister Justin Trudeau had simply recused himself from involvement during the cabinet vote for the program, the entire WE Charity “scandal” would have been avoided.
Before the pandemic, both Trudeau’s wife and mother had appropriate, working relationships with WE Charity. To avoid even the perception of a conflict of interest, a reasonable politician would recuse himself from Cabinet discussions on selecting WE Charity as the administrator of the program. Trudeau chose otherwise. When the controversy broke, instead of stepping up to protect the charity and the millions of young Canadians it served, he stepped back, deflected, shut down parliament and even went on holidays after his committee testimony. He left WE Charity to fend for itself, unfairly making it the lightning rod for all opposition attacks against the program and Trudeau himself.
After WE Charity was attacked by the opposition parties and forced to remove itself from delivering the program, Trudeau falsely stated that the government would find ways to deliver the program. That never happened and the 30,000 students who had signed up in the first two days after launch, young people wanting to step up and help and earn much needed summer income, got nothing. The government shelved the program and established nothing to replace it.
If Prime Minister Justin Trudeau had simply recused himself from involvement during the cabinet vote for the program, the entire WE Charity “scandal” would have been avoided. Justin Trudeau later apologized for not recusing himself. Nine months later, Ethics Commissioner Mario Dion cleared Justin Trudeau of any wrongdoing, but it was too little too late. It is not WE Charity's responsibility to manage the Government of Canada's perceived conflicts of interest.
See original mediaEven though he formerly served as Minister of Youth, Justin Trudeau did not protect Canada’s largest youth organization, taking no personal responsibility for the organization’s downfall and showing no moral courage to speak up. He left tens of thousands of students without summer income thanks to his mishandling of the CSSG. Although he promised an alternative solution once WE Charity proactively removed itself from the program, he broke that promise as well, letting students down because it was more politically convenient to do so.
See original mediaJustin Trudeau's comment that WE Charity was “the only organization in Canada” capable of delivering the program harmed, rather than helped, the situation from WE’s perspective. His statement shifted the spotlight from the government procurement process—which opposition politicians and the media had every right to scrutinize—to the charity. Justin Trudeau only appeared for ninety minutes of questioning before leaving for a vacation. Conversely, WE Charity representatives spent over 9 hours answering questions from Members of Parliament.
See original media
What WE Lost goes into detail on Justin Trudeau’s costly and misguided decision not to recuse himself from the CSSG approval process, and how he completely abandoned WE Charity during the controversy that followed.
Listen to Martin Luther King III relay behind-the-scenes details of Justin Trudeau’s pivotal decision not to recuse himself from discussions about the CSSG, and his abandonment of WE Charity once the controversy broke.
