Check it Out: Following the money trail

BY JOAN JANZEN
joanjanzen@yahoo.com

A husband said, “My wife’s credit card got stolen the other day. I haven’t bothered reporting it, though, because the thief spends much less than my wife.”

While I’m on the topic of spending money, I’ll mention the latest spending by the Federal Government. Controversy recently arose when the Prime Minister awarded a $19.5 million contract to WE Charity to administer the Canada Student Service Grant (CSSG), which offers grants of $1,000 to $5,000 to post-secondary students in return for supervised volunteer hours. By the way, this decision was made after Parliament was suspended.

According to the CBC, the Prime Minister’s office made the following statement, “What is important to remember here is that this is about a charity supporting students. The CSSG program is about giving young people opportunities to contribute to their communities, not about benefits to anyone else.”

However Margaret Trudeau received benefits of $250,000 for speaking at approximately 28 events, although WE Charity had earlier said it had never paid an honorarium to her. Margaret’s son Alexandre also received benefits of $32,000 for speaking at eight WE Charity events. And why would they accept such a significant amount of money from a charity? Wouldn’t it be wiser to use that $282,000 to benefit students?

WE Charity explained that sponsored speakers at WE events are often contracted through speakers’ bureaus, one of which was ME to WE Social Enterprises. Though separate, ME to WE Social Enterprises is still part of the WE organization. Margaret’s fees are usually sponsored by ME to WE Social Enterprise, but WE Charity admitted that sometimes she was paid directly by WE Charity, but that was only because of an error in billing.

But why would it make a difference, when - according to the CBC, profits earned by ME to WE Social Enterprises are returned to the WE Charity. Now the federal ethics commissioner is investigating the WE contract to administer the volunteer grant.

These circumstances may cause Canadians to recollect the forgotten SNC-Lavalin affair. Canadians may also remember that WE Charity founders, Marc and Craig Kielburger, directly financed Trudeau’s leadership campaign.

WE Charity said in a statement: questions have been asked about the program, such as its origin and the choice of WE Charity as the government’s partner. “These are all valid questions and the government has provided explanations for each. However, controversy has not abated.”

NDP leader Jagmeet Singh agreed, saying, “This doesn’t clear up why and how the decision was made in the first place.”

The Canadian Taxpayers Federation is encouraging Canadians to email the federal auditor general, Karen Hogan, and ask her to conduct an audit of all contracts between the federal government and WE Charity.

You can contact me at joanjanzen@yahoo.com