Ethics probe partially clears former finance minister
Federal FF watchdog finds that Bill Morneau ‘ genuinely believed’ he had paid $ 41,000 cost of two WE Charity trips,
The federal ethics watchdog has partially cleared former finance minister Bill Morneau, dropping a probe into whether Morneau wrongly accepted gifts of free travel, accommodation and expenses from the WE Charity organization.
Mario Dion, in a letter to Morneau dated Oct. 28 and obtained by the Star, said he accepted Morneau’s explanation that the minister “genuinely believed” he had paid for the entire $41,000 cost of two Morneau family trips back in 2017 sponsored by WE Charity.
However, Morneau is not totally off the hook. Dion continues to probe whether the former finance minister violated federal ethics law in failing to recuse himself from a cabinet decision to award a $543-million contract to administer a summer student volunteer program to the WE organization, given his family ties to the group.
One of Morneau’s daughters worked at WE, his wife, Nancy McCain, donated to the organization and, in 2017, she and a daughter travelled to Kenya in July at the invitation of WE. In December that year, Morneau accompanied his family on another WE-organized trip to Ecuador.
The student volunteer program was shelved in the wake of the controversy, which also engulfed the prime minister. A total of $900 million initially allotted for student volunteerism in Ottawa’s pandemic programming never went out the door.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is also under investigation in the same matter, given his family’s ties to WE. Trudeau’s wife, mother and brother have all accepted speaking fees to attend WE Day events. Trudeau participated in WE Day events, too, but a list of speaking fees he released indicates he never accepted paid engagements with WE.
Dion wrote that Morneau defended himself in saying he had “no knowledge that the ME to WE organization had provided complimentary accommodation and programming costs” to him and his family during the trips, which included travel on a non-commercial chartered aircraft — which ministers are specifically prohibited from taking. Dion said Morneau’s explanation was “that you routinely pay for you and your family’s personal travel, which is handled by personnel hired to manage your affairs.”
“Once you became aware of the discrepancy in the costs, you immediately took the appropriate corrective measures,” Dion wrote. “Because you reimbursed the full amount of these costs, I am of the view that you did not accept a gift from WE Charity,” the ethics watchdog concluded.
The WE Charity group said the $41,000 cheque that Morneau wrote this summer as he scrambled to cover those costs was at the high end of what he would have owed.
Dion says he accepted Morneau’s written explanation, delivered on Sept. 15 nearly a month after he left the finance portfolio, and pointed to additional information disclosed last week on Oct. 23 that “corroborates your position with respect to your belief that you paid for the total cost of your and your family’s personal travel in 2017.”
“Moreover, the evidence suggests that the WE organization invited your spouse and daughter to participate in these trips, and that you had no involvement in the planning and preparation of either event.”
He said Morneau also provided documentary evidence backing up his claim that he was not involved in, nor did he sign off on, any decision his wife made to make two “significant donations to the WE Charity from your family foundation” in April 2018 and June 2020.
Morneau disclosed the trips at a parliamentary committee in July, stunning the prime minister and many of his colleagues.
It was at the height of the controversy over how WE Charity got the sole-sourced contract, in light of its ties to Trudeau’s and Morneau’s families. Weeks later, Morneau resisgned from Trudeau’s cabinet and is now running as Canada’s candidate to head up an international policy think tank, the OECD.
He said his departure had nothing to do with the WE controversy. Morneau was unavailable for an interview Thursday.
NDP ethics critic Charlie Angus made the original complaint about Morneau to Dion’s office.
In a statement to the Star, he said “Morneau’s $40,000 in sponsored travel only came to light because of a parliamentary investigation. The fact that Mr. Morneau had the funds to so easily pay it back doesn’t make it any less troubling.”
Dion’s office also declined to comment, citing confidentiality provisions that require all investigations to be conducted privately and limit what can be said publicly “to preserve the integrity and fairness of the investigative process.” Dion spokesperson Maha Achkar said the office didn’t release the information, but since it has “already been made public, I can confirm that Commissioner Dion did inform former finance minister Bill Morneau yesterday that some of the allegations in his examination were discontinued.”
Morneau is off the hook for any violation related to accepting a gift over $200, and failing to report it within 30 days.