Watchdog to examine Trudeau over WE Charity contract

OTTAWA — The federal ethics watchdog is examining whether Prime Minister Justin Trudeau violated the conflict of interest law over how he handled a decision to have WE Charity manage a $900-million federal program to pay students and fresh graduates for volunteer work this summer.

The Liberal government announced Friday the Torontobased youth organization would no longer be managing the program, days after the prime minister himself called WE Charity the only option for success.

Trudeau said Friday public servants will administer the pandemic-related grants instead.

Since the charity founded by brothers Craig and Marc Kielburger was announced as the manager of the program last week, the sole-sourced deal has been criticized because of Trudeau’s close relationship with the group.

That prompted the Conservatives and the NDP to ask Mario Dion, the federal ethics commissioner, to look into whether Trudeau has violated the Conflict of Interest Act.

On Friday, Dion replied in separate letters to Conservative MP Michael Barrett and NDP MP Charlie Angus, their parties’ ethics critics, that he would begin an examination and that he had notified Trudeau about it.

In his letter to Barrett, Dion said his examination would involve the sections of the Conflict of Interest Act that forbid public office holders from taking part in decisions that they should know would put them in a conflict of interest, giving preferential treatment and requiring them to recuse themselves from matters that would put them in a conflict of interest.

Charity experts have questioned whether WE is equipped for the fine-grained management of such a big governmentfunded program.