OTTAWA -- The Conservatives are working to revive a push for documents from the speaking organization WE Charity used to pay hundreds of thousands of dollars to members of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's family.
In a motion tabled during Thursday's ethics committee meeting, the Conservatives requested Speakers' Spotlight be asked to hand over "a copy of all records pertaining to speaking appearances arranged, since October 14, 2008, for Justin Trudeau, Sophie Grégoire Trudeau, Margaret Trudeau and Alexandre Trudeau."
Within that ask, the motion demands the agency reveal "the fee provided, any expenses that were reimbursed and the name of the company, organization, person or entity booking it."
However, the ethics committee meeting was adjourned before members could vote on the motion, leaving it in limbo until at least the next meeting – which has yet to be scheduled.
The committee had originally asked for the documents during a meeting on July 22, prior to the prorogation of Parliament. The agency had until July 29 to produce the documents, though they asked for an extension to August 19.
However, when Trudeau prorogued Parliament, the ask evaporated alongside all other committee investigations into the WE controversy.
Conservative MP Pierre Poilievre introduced a motion at the finance committee today in a bid to revive that committee's study of the issue. However, Liberal committee Chair Wayne Easter suspended the meeting “until further notice” to determine whether the motion was in order procedurally.
Poilievre fired back that Easter did not have the authorization to do that, calling on him repeatedly to "have the courage to hold a vote."
The two continued to argue over the issue, with Poilievre at one point attempting to run the meeting himself, until the meeting was abruptly suspended.
The decision to grant WE Charity a now-cancelled contract to deliver the Canada Student Service Grant (CSSG) came under fire after the charity's ties to Trudeau and former finance minister Bill Morneau's families were revealed.
Trudeau's mother, Margaret Trudeau, spoke at approximately 28 WE Charity events and was paid $250,000 in speaking honorariums between 2016 and 2020. The prime minister's brother, Alexandre Trudeau, also spoke at eight WE Charity events from 2017 to 2018 and was paid approximately $32,000.
Speakers' Spotlight paid the majority of these funds to the Trudeau family members on behalf of WE Charity.
In addition, Trudeau's wife, Sophie Gregoire Trudeau, received a "one-time speaking honorarium" of $1,400 for participating in a youth event in 2012, before Trudeau became leader of the Liberal Party.
WE Charity paid in part for two trips that members of Morneau's family took in 2017 — one of which Morneau himself took part in. The former finance minister's daughter Clare has also spoken at WE events, and his daughter Grace was previously employed by WE Charity
Morneau has since resigned as both finance minister and as a member of Parliament, though he would not directly attribute the decision to the WE controversy.
Both men have apologized for not recusing themselves from the discussions. Trudeau has insisted that he was not in an actual position of conflict during the conversations about the grant, but rather, that he was subject to a perception of conflict.
The prime minister has also said he expressed concern about the choice of WE Charity when he first learned of it. He said he was worried about a perception of conflict, and as a result asked the public service to "put the brakes on" to ensure the organization really was the only one that could have delivered the program.
"I wanted to push back and really make sure that everyone could say without a shadow of a doubt that this was…the way to deliver the program recommended by our outstanding and professional public servants," Trudeau said in a press conference July 31.
Despite the apologies and explanations, both the Bloc Quebecois and former Conservative leader Andrew Scheer had called on Trudeau to resign.
With a file from The Canadian Press
