Ex-finance minister drops out of OECD campaign

Morneau resigned as MP following allegations of his involvement in WE scandal

OTTAWA—Former finance minister Bill Morneau has dropped out of the race to become secretary-general of the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development.

In a statement posted on Twitter Tuesday, Morneau said he did not have enough support from member countries to make it to the third round of the campaign.

Morneau, who became Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s finance minister after the Liberals won the 2015 election, abruptly resigned from cabinet and as the MP for Toronto Centre last August.

At the time, he said he would put his name forward as a candidate to succeed Angel Gurria as the next secretary-general of the OECD. But he was also facing opposition calls for his resignation over allegations that he had a conflict of interest in the WE Charity affair after he revealed the organization had paid for two trips he and his family took to Kenya and Ecuador in 2017.

The federal ethics watchdog has cleared Morneau of failing to disclose a gift from WE Charity. But Mario Dion continues to probe whether Morneau and Trudeau, who also has close family ties to WE, breached the Conflict of Interest Act by failing to recuse themselves from the cabinet decision to pay the charity $43.5 million to manage a since-cancelled student services grant program.

Dion’s office would not speculate Tuesday on when the ethics commissioner might deliver his verdict.

“Both examinations are ongoing and Commissioner Dion will report on them once they have been completed,” it said.