PM’s mother spoke at WE Day event funded by feds

HERITAGE CANADA

OTTAWA

Justin Trudeau asked WE Charity to host a 2017 Canada Day event on Parliament Hill, the organization’s co-founder said, for which the government paid $1.18 million. And Trudeau’s mother, who had been receiving fees for making public appearances at WE events at the time, was a speaker at the event.

In a memo obtained by National Post, Marc Kielburger said he had received the invitation from Trudeau and the Heritage ministry.

“I’m thrilled to share that we have been invited by the Prime Minister and Canadian Heritage to host a unique WE Day event in Ottawa on Canada Day Weekend 2017,” Kielburger wrote in the memo to staff. The Prime Minister’s Office neither confirmed nor denied Trudeau’s involvement in the invitation and WE did not respond to multiple National Post inquiries asking whether Margaret Trudeau had been paid for her appearance.

However, WE Charity said last week that Margaret Trudeau had been paid a total of $312,000 in speaking fees for attending 28 WE events between 2016 and 2020. During those speeches, she spoke “primarily on the topic of mental health,” WE Charity explained. Mental health was also the topic she spoke about at the 2017 Canada Day event. The prime minister also spoke at the event.

Federal public records show that the Heritage Canada department contributed $1.18 million to WE to host the event.

The same year, WE produced a campaign-style ad that appears to promote Justin Trudeau and his Liberal government while also doubling as a promo for the charity.

The WE organization is currently embroiled in controversy following Trudeau’s decision to task it with administering a $900-million student volunteer program despite his close ties to the charity. Monday, Trudeau apologized for not recusing himself from discussions about the solesourced contract.

The WE organization pays an average of $11,000 for each of Margaret Trudeau’s appearances, including a 20 per cent commission to her speaking agency.

Last Friday, National Post asked WE organization to confirm whether Trudeau’s mother had been paid for her WE Day appearance on Parliament Hill. Five days later, the organization had neither confirmed nor denied the payment, nor did the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO).

“It would be entirely unacceptable for Canadian tax dollars to be used to pay a speaking fee for the mother of the prime minister at an event where she was appearing with him,” Conservative ethics critic Michael Barrett said.

“It’s an unbelievable revelation in a series of unbelievable revelations.”

In an initial comment last Friday, the PMO said the prime minister was not involved in the decision to finance WE’s event. Five days later, PMO spokesman Alex Wellstead added that they were not aware that any WE Day participants were being paid at the time.

Later, a spokeswoman for the Heritage Minister confirmed that it was Mélanie Joly, who held the role in 2017, who had signed off on the contribution agreement. Cabinet was not involved in the process, spokeswoman Camille Gagné-Raynauld said.

“If any Cabinet minister or anyone acting on behalf of any Cabinet minister, or the prime minister or anyone acting on behalf of the prime minister communicated with anybody in the public service about this, then it’s a violation of the conflict of interest rules for Trudeau,” Democracy Watch cofounder Duff Conacher said.

The prime minister’s office did not respond to multiple questions on this topic, notably:

❚ What was Trudeau’s role in extending an invitation to WE Charity to host WE Day 2017 on Parliament Hill?

❚ Did the government require any assurances from the WE organization that no part of the $1.18 million taxpayer-funded contribution would go toward paying Margaret Trudeau’s potential speaking fees?

This is not the first time a Kielburger has claimed Trudeau reached out to WE directly to work with the federal government.

Two weeks ago, National Post obtained video of Marc Kielburger telling a private videoconference that Trudeau’s office had “called” WE Charity asking for help implementing the $900 million Canada Student Service Grant (CSSG), seemingly contradicting the prime minister’s earlier explanations that WE had been selected by the public service. Kielburger later claimed he “misspoke” and that it was a public servant who had made the first contact.

Since then, WE Charity pulled out of the deal to administer the CSSG as more ties came to light between Trudeau’s family and the WE organization, as well as concerns as to how the Toronto-based organization was administering the federal program.