Husband of top Trudeau aide pushed for wage subsidy
Approached office of finance minister for rule change
OTTAWA • Robert Silver, husband of the prime minister’s chief of staff, repeatedly pushed the Trudeau government to make changes to the federal wage subsidy in a failed bid to make his new employer eligible for the multi-billion-dollar aid program.
According to two sources with knowledge of the situation, Silver, senior vice-president, strategy, policy, risk at private mortgage company MCAP, approached former finance minister Bill Morneau’s office in April asking for legislative changes to the Canada Emergency Wage Subsidy (CEWS). Vice News first reported the story on Friday.
In his dealings with Morneau’s office, Silver, who is not a registered lobbyist and whose wife Katie Telford has worked as Trudeau’s chief of staff since 2015, even went so far as to suggest a specific wording for the legislative change he was seeking, according to one source.
The legislative amendment as suggested would have benefited very few organizations other than MCAP, both sources confirmed.
The same sources said the request was quickly turned down by Morneau’s office. But the ex-finance minister’s staff was “very uncomfortable” with Silver’s contacts, knowing full well that he is the husband of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s chief of staff.
In a statement, a spokesman for MCAP did not deny any of the details but insisted any interactions were done with respect to federal lobbying laws.
“MCAP, through counsel, consulted with Canada’s Lobbying Commissioner in January to establish proper screens and protocols around any engagement with government. MCAP and its employees and officers have strictly complied with the letter and spirit of this guidance and all applicable laws,” an MCAP spokesperson responded by email.
The Prime Minister’s Office said Telford was not involved with any discussions involving MCAP.
Despite Silver’s failed bid, his company did receive an $86 million contract to manage the government’s commercial rent assistance program for small businesses only a few weeks later. The government said that neither Silver nor Telford had anything to do with that decision.
Since 2004, MCAP is in a limited liability partnership with the Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec (CDPQ), the province’s pension fund manager. According to CEWS legislation tabled by the government in April, organizations that are in a partnership with another that is exempt from paying income taxes (like the CDPQ) are not eligible for the wage subsidy.
Sources who were granted anonymity so as to speak freely tell National Post that Silver contacted Morneau’s director of policy, Tyler Meredith, and chief of staff, Elder Marques, multiple times in April to express his frustration about MCAP’S ineligibility for CEWS.
Silver’s main complaint was that it would put his employer at a disadvantage with other private mortgage companies who would be eligible for the government aid.
But Silver did not digest the finance minister’s office’s refusal to adapt CEWS. Sources say he wrote a “rude” and “entitled” email to Meredith expressing his frustration at the decision.
National Post presented all of this information to Morneau’s office, who did not deny any of it except that interactions by MCAP on the wage subsidy involved “pressure.”
“Our office interacts regularly with a broad range of stakeholders to answer questions on government programs, including the wage subsidy. These discussions are always done in full respect of the rules in place. Any questions about MCAP should be directed to them. Any report of any interaction that could be described as pressure is completely false,” said Pierre-olivier Herbert, Morneau’s former director of communications and current Finance spokesperson, in a statement.
Sources say Silver then also contacted Michael Mcnair, who joined the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) in March 2020 as a special adviser, according to Linkedin, to discuss his desired changes to CEWS. They still did not occur after that contact.
CEWS covers 75 per cent of eligible employers’ payrolls up to a weekly maximum of $847 per employee.
Though the legislative changes to the wage subsidy requested by Silver never went through, MCAP still managed to receive federal funding shortly after.
Last month, National Post reported that the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC), a federal Crown corporation, signed a $56 million contract with MCAP on May 15 to administer the Canada Emergency Commercial Rent Assistance Program (CECRA) for small businesses.
The value of the contract later jumped to $84 million when the program was extended until July.
At the time, a spokesperson for CMHC explained that MCAP had received the contract after a brief tendering process involving two companies.
CMHC CEO Evan Siddall also wrote on social media on Aug. 13 that he conducted a “full review” of all emails and that the selection of MCAP was “entirely proper.”
“Rob Silver had no involvement whatsoever in our selection of MCAP nor the terms of their engagement. No one in PMO nor any other part of government, and certainly not (Katie Telford), had any involvement whatsoever in any matter concerning MCAP’S work with us on #CECRA,” Siddall wrote on Twitter.
PMO responded to multiple questions regarding Telford’s knowledge of Silver’s interactions with PMO and Morneau’s office by reiterating previous information on how Telford had set up a voluntary conflict of interest screen between herself and MCAP.
“Ms. Telford has not been involved in any discussions related to MCAP. The Prime Minister’s Office takes all its obligations regarding ethics very seriously & follows the rules. Any questions about MCAP or any other company should be directed to that company,” the PMO said in a statement.
The office did not respond to questions about if Telford knew of her husband’s pressure to change CEWS legislation, if she or anyone at the PMO was told of Silver’s repeated communications, nor if anyone in the PMO expressed discomfort to Silver, or asked him to register in the federal lobbying registry.
Silver did not respond to requests for comment by press time.