A House of Commons finance committee motion where MPs were set to vote on a motion on the WE Charity scandal has disappeared.
According to Conservative MP Pierre Poilievre, a recording of Thursday’s meeting vanished from the Parliamentary telescreen along with the motion as well.
On Thursday, Liberal MP and chair Wayne Easter allegedly muted and ended a Zoom meeting just as Poilievre had put forward a motion to remove redactions from a document disclosure on WE Charity documents.
Prior to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s decision to prorogue parliament in August, the Liberal government disclosed several thousands of pages of documents related to their conduct. Many of the documents were heavily redacted.
“This is a cover-up. The prime minister personally intervened to give half a billion-dollar grant to a group that had paid his family half a million dollars. He is covering it up by blacking it out, and shutting down our investigations,” said Conservative MP Pierre Poilievre shortly after Trudeau announced he was proroguing parliament.
Prorogation brought all committee investigations into the WE Charity scandal to an abrupt end.
However, contained within that disclosure were several indications that the Prime Minister’s Office played a key role in handpicking WE to oversee a $900 million federal student service grant.
The evidence seemingly contradicted Trudeau’s earlier testimony that he played no part in the decision.
“There was never any direction by or attempt to influence from me or my staff that the public service recommend WE Charity,” said Trudeau during his testimony before the Standing Committee on Finance.
One email by the assistant deputy minister of finance Michelle Kovacevic notes that the Prime Minister’s Office was “weighing in” on the grant and that there was “positive communication with WE.”
Earlier this week, Liberal and NDP members of the Standing Committee on Procedure and House Affairs voted against a Conservative motion to revive the investigation into the matter.
Conservatives have accused the prime minister of playing favourites when it decided to pick WE for the contract, pointing to the fact that several members of his family have close financial and personal relationships with the charity.
