Canadian Ethics Watchdog has revealed that Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has cheated on the WE charity scandal.
A charity was used by his government last year to oversee a volunteer program for students during a pandemic.
Trudeau later faced scrutiny when it became clear that he had a personal connection with the organization.
However, the report found that former Treasury Minister Bill Morneau violated federal ethical rules in a scandal.
Morneau denied the incident, but resigned in August.
Morneau last summer after it was revealed that we had paid some of his expenses when he traveled twice with his family to see some of his philanthropy in Kenya and Ecuador. Faced with pressure to resign.
He said it was overlooked and repaid C $ 41,000 ($ 33,000; £ 24,000).
In October, Federal Ethics Commissioner Mario Dion revealed Mr Morneau’s ethical misconduct, saying it seemed like a real mistake.
But on Thursday, Dion released a report that found Morneau having “several” conflicts of interest in other ways.
The relationship between the former Finance Minister and a charity, especially the friendship with WE co-founder Craig Kielburger, “gave WE free access to the Finance Minister’s office,” Dion wrote.
“We broke the conflict of interest rules by improperly promoting WE’s private interests, not rejecting WE-related decisions, and giving WE preferential treatment,” Morneau said in a report. It was.
In a statement, Morneau reiterated that given his personal ties, he should have withdrawn from the government’s debate over charity. He had previously apologized for not doing so.
The former Finance Minister also repeated the discovery of the report-he was not directly involved in recommending WE charities for the program.
What did the report say about Mr Trudeau?
Regarding Mr Trudeau, the Ethics Commissioner admitted that a conflict of interest had “occurred” due to his relationship with his family, but no ethical misconduct had occurred.
“I’m happy that Mr Trudeau didn’t give preferential treatment to WE,” he wrote.
In response to the findings, Trudeau said the commissioner confirmed “what I said from the beginning.”
“The heart of this initiative was to get the support of young people as soon as possible during this pandemic.”
What happened to the program?
WE Charity was hired by the federal government to provide a national youth volunteer program for students who were hit hard by the economic downturn caused by Covid-19.
However, in July 2020, WE co-founders Craig and Marc Kielburger announced that they would withdraw from the program because they were “engaged in controversy from the moment of the announcement.”
The founder told parliamentarians last summer that he did not participate in the program because of political ties, did not benefit financially, and in fact lost $ 5 million when the deal was closed. ..
Craig Kielburger added that dropping out of the problem “has created a serious challenge that puts the entire organization at risk.”
And in September, we said, “We will reduce the activity of the organization in Canada.” The brothers leave the organization altogether.
The pair, who co-founded a charity at their parents’ Ontario home when Craig was 12, gained celebrity status in his home country and appeared on television shows such as Oprah and 60 Minutes.