Justin Trudeau apologises over contract to charity that paid family to speak

Justin Trudeau has apologised for not recusing himself from discussions about a contract to a charity that had hired his family.

‘I’m sincerely sorry’: Justin Trudeau. Picture: AFP

Canada’s Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has apologised for not recusing himself from discussions about a government contract to a charity that had paid his family large sums of money for speaking appearances.

“I made a mistake not recusing myself immediately from the discussions, given our family’s history. And I’m sincerely sorry,” Mr Trudeau said on Monday (Tuesday AEST).

His apology came amid opposition demands for an investigation into a $C900m ($952m) con­tract awarded by the government to development and youth advocacy organisation WE Charity.

The NGO has admitted paying nearly $C300,000 to Mr Trudeau’s mother, brother and wife for speaking engagements.

Mr Trudeau himself admitted to taking part in negotiations with the charity over the contract.

He said he knew his mother Margaret worked for WE as an advocate on mental health issues but didn’t know the “details”.

“I didn’t know the details of how much she was getting paid by various organisations, but I should have and I deeply regret that,” he said.

Finance Minister Bill Morneau — whose two daughters worked with the charity — also apologised for not stepping away from the contract talks.

WE Charity has said it was withdrawing from the federal program, which provides grants of up to $C5000 to eligible students for volunteer work with non-profit organisations during the coronavirus pandemic. It had hired more than 450 contract workers, according to the Toronto Star, and is now forced to lay them off.

Mr Trudeau said he was “really disappointed in myself”.

“I think Canadians will make their judgments about what we were trying to do and what I should have done,” he said.

The episode is under investigation by the country’s ethics watchdog, and marks the third time in as many years that Mr Trudeau has found himself at the centre of an ethics firestorm. The ethics commissioner has already released two reports concluding that Mr Trudeau violated the Conflict of Interest Act: in 2017, for taking a vacation on the Aga Khan’s private island, and last year for trying to influence legal proceedings in the SNC-Lavalin case.

On Sunday, the opposition Conservative Party said it would ask Mr Trudeau to testify under oath before the House of Commons finance committee.

Conservative MP Michael Barrett said on Monday Mr Trudeau’s apology was an attempt to keep the scandal from “spinning out of control”. “We know that Justin Trudeau is only sorry when he gets caught and that’s what the apology was all about today.”

AFP