We charity PULLS out of $912M deal With Liberals

Trudeau needs to answer for ‘scandal,’ NDP’S Singh says

GATINEAU, QUE. • WE Charity has pulled out of an 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, Que., on Friday.

Administration of the Canada Student Service Grant — a federal program that will pay students up to $5,000 for volunteer work done over the summer — will fall back on the public service, Trudeau said.

But he warned the government wouldn’t be able to administer the program as well as WE Charity.

“There are certain things that we will not be able to do as government delivers this program. Directly reaching out to actively search and pull in volunteers was something that WE organization could do because of its extensive network and practice, as well as support and training and onboarding volunteers,” the prime minister said.

“That was something … that the government isn’t necessarily best positioned to do.”

The news came as a blow to the Canadian Federation of Students, who is “extremely disappointed” that the federal government has “failed students once again.”

“Students deserve more. The federal government needs to step up and do what they should have done all along, extend the Canada Emergency Student Benefit to international students and make it equal to the CERB … as well as stop implementing boutique programs that are costly and inefficient," the organization, which represents over 500,000 Canadian post-secondary students, said in a statement.

According to a government statement, the student grant program saw over 35,000 applications in the first week, a large majority of which identified as visible minorities.

WE Charity’s retreat from the CSSG comes after a week of significant controversies.

Monday, the National Post reported that WE Charity — which has close ties to Trudeau and his family — had received several solesource contracts from the federal government in the last three years.

Tuesday, video obtained by the National Post showed WE Charity co-founder Marc Kielburger saying that the Prime Minister’s Office had called his organization directly asking it to “help implement” the Canada Student Service Grant.

WE then backtracked, claimed Kielburger “misspoke” and said that it was in fact the public service that had contacted the organization. But critics said the co-founders initial statement was “extremely concerning” and “not credible.”

Trudeau had regularly attended or hosted “WE Day,” the organization’s annual stadium-sized rally for Canadian youth, up until 2017. His wife, Sophie Grégoire Trudeau, is a “WE ambassador and ally”, hosts a podcast with the organization and attended a WE Day event with her daughter and the prime minister’s mother, Margaret Trudeau, in London in March.

This week, the Globe and Mail also reported that the WE had posted offers for 450 “virtual volunteer” positions at its organization that would be compensated through the federal student grant.

A report from the CBC Thursday said that WE had laid off ‘significant’ amounts of staff and that nearly all members of WE Charity’s Canadian and U.S. board of directors resigned just months before the organization was asked by Ottawa to administer the $912-million program.

In a statement Friday, WE Charity founders Craig and Marc Kielburger said they were pulling out of the agreement with the government because they feared that recent controversies would cause the program to suffer.

“Even as CSSG take-up has been very strong, the program has also been enmeshed in controversy from the moment of its announcement. Questions have been asked about the program’s origin, about the concept of outsourcing the program’s operations, about the choice of WE Charity as the government’s partner, and the underlying merit of paid service. These are all valid questions and the government has provided explanations for each. However, controversy has not abated,” WE Charity said in a statement Friday.

“Our concern is that to continue in this way, the program itself will begin to suffer — and as a consequence, opportunities for students might be negatively affected. Not only would that be unwelcome, it is unnecessary. The program has now been launched with a level of operational functionality and a critical mass of engagement that permits it to be otherwise administered.”

The Toronto-based organization also confirmed it wouldn’t keep a penny of any money already received from the federal government for its work on the student grant.

WE was slated to receive at least $19.5 million to cover administrative costs.

“In order to remove any question whatsoever concerning WE Charity’s motivation for becoming involved in this initiative, WE Charity waives all costs associated with the creation and administration of the program. To be clear, any funds earmarked for WE Charity staff or WE Charity administration will be returned in full to the government,” the Kielburgers wrote.

But despite WE’S departure from the program, many questions remain, NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh said.

CONSERVATIVES DEMAND AN INVESTIGATION AND SUDDENLY THE CONTRACT IS CANCELLED.

“This doesn’t clear up why and how the decision was made in the first place. It doesn’t answer how young Canadians and countless organizations across the country will get the support they need. The Prime Minister still needs to answer for this scandal,” Singh wrote on Twitter.

Conservative Leader Andrew Scheer also reacted by expressing his dissatisfaction towards answers provided by government to date.

“Trudeau handed a massive $900M contract to a charity with close ties to his family & the Liberal Party. He claimed it was the ‘best and only organization able to deliver.’ Conservatives demand an investigation and suddenly the contract is cancelled. Coincidence? I think not,” Scheer wrote on Twitter.