The revelations in the wake of the WE scandal are screaming for a police investigation. But then again, we are still waiting for a conclusion of the obstruction of justice investigation into the SNC-Lavalin scandal. Remember the investigation the RCMP told us was just “on hold” during the election? There is no indication it was made active again.
There are so many questions about what the Trudeau government was doing in all of this – giving $912 million to a Liberal friendly firm for a single-sourced contract is bad enough, but to give it to a charity that is closely affiliated to the Prime Minister is worse.
To top it all off, we then learned that it was a cabinet decision and Trudeau was at the table. The fact that he didn’t recuse himself just makes it slimy.
But the RCMP don’t investigate slimy. They do, however, investigate crimes.
Or at least they are supposed to.
Trudeau has extensive ties with WE. We know that Trudeau was associated with WE since at least 2008, and WE has paid more than $300,000 to members of Trudeau’s family ostensibly as speaking fees.
We also know that Finance Minister Bill Morneau’s daughter works for WE and another has connections there as well, and in 2019 Morneau gave $3 million to WE in another of our government’s “investments.”
On the surface, this would appear to be at least a major conflict of interest on the parts of both the Prime Minister and the Finance Minister. But it is more than that.
Remember ADSCAM? In the early 2000s, the Liberal government at the time was funnelling money to Quebec advertising firms who then acted as a slush fund and kicked back most of the money to the Liberal Party by way of donations.
The RCMP investigated and charged a number of people with fraud and related offences and some went to jail.
The scandal toppled the Liberal government of Paul Martin and ensured the election of Stephen Harper as Prime Minister.
The same sections of the Criminal Code that convicted Chuck Guite, Jean Brault and Jean Lafleur of multiple counts of fraud would also seem to be applicable in the case of the WE scandal.
In simple terms, using public money and diverting it to the benefit of politicians, employees or members of their family is contrary to the Criminal Code under Section 121 (1)(b).
But there’s also section 380 (1) of the Code which deals with defrauding the public by deceit or falsehood.
Was there a deceit or falsehood involved? WE originally stated that no Trudeau family members were paid by the organization – that clearly is not the case.
Trudeau also said that WE was the only organization that had the national network capable of operating this type of program for young people. That claim has been disputed by many.
The editor of the Hillborn Charity news Ann Rosenfeld said to CBC, “There are many strong, reputable charities with offices in multiple locations across Canada who could do this youth volunteer program well.”
She mentioned the United Way, Volunteer Canada and Community Foundations of Canada as examples.
There’s enough stink to all of this that the RCMP should investigate and determine if a crime or crimes have been committed.
RCMP Commissioner Brenda Lucki, who seems to be little more than a lickspittle for Justin Trudeau, needs to place her duty before personal loyalties and do her job.
