Opposition aim to recall ethics committee to study Trudeaus’ connections

OTTAWA — The federal opposition parties want to recall the House of Commons ethics committee to investigate Justin Trudeau’s failure to recuse himself from a decision to award a large contract to an organization with ties to his family.

Trudeau, his wife, mother and brother have all done events on behalf of the international development and youth organization WE, the same organization given a sole-source contract to run a $900-million student volunteering program.

Conservative ethics critic Michael Barrett says MPs want to review what safeguards are in place to prevent conflict of interest in government procurement.

To do that, they want to see records related to the Trudeau family’s speaking engagements dating back to 2008.

While WE says the prime minister was never paid for his work with the organization, his family members were and that has opposition politicians crying foul over the fact the organization got the contract from which it later withdrew.

Trudeau has said there is no connection between the two, and it was the non-partisan public service that recommended WE run the Canada Student Service Grant program.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published July 13, 2020.

The Canadian Press