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Wednesday, June 25, 2025

RCMP “examining” Liberal government’s WE Charity decision

By
True North Wire
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The RCMP has said that they are in the process of “examining” the WE Charity deal which has plunged the Liberal government into disarray. 

Critics have accused Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and his cabinet of a conflict of interest after awarding the $900 million contract to WE despite personal and financial relations between himself and the organization.

“The RCMP is examining this matter carefully with all available information and will take appropriate actions as required. It would be inappropriate for us to provide anymore further comments on this matter at this time,” an RCMP spokesperson told Global News. 

The matter is currently under investigation by Canada’s ethics commissioner Mario Dion.

Recently, Trudeau’s former finance minister Bill Morneau announced he would be resigning from his position following reports that he was implicated in the scandal as well.

During testimony before the finance committee, Morneau apologized for accepting paid family trips from the charity and told committee members he had reimbursed WE tens of thousands of dollars.

Disclosures by WE Charity co-founders Craig and Marc Kielburger reveal that the prime minister’s mother Margaret Trudeau was paid approximately half a million dollars for various speaking engagements with the group. 

While at his own testimony appearance, Trudeau told the finance committee that he had no involvement in the contracting 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.

A recent trove of thousands of documents has further implicated the prime minister and his government in the decision to award WE the lucrative student service grant.

Contrary to the prime minister’s claims, memos and email exchanges show that the prime minister’s office may have pressured the public service to look in WE’s direction when deciding on the grant’s management. 

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.”

Public Health Agency claimed to be prepared for a pandemic in 2019

By
True North Wire
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The Public Health Agency claimed it was extremely prepared for potential pandemics in a September 2019 memo.

According to Blacklock’s Reporter, in the heavily redacted five-page memo the national health agency said it was organized for “pandemic preparedness” and had amassed an adequate stockpile of personal protective equipment (PPE).

The agency also claimed it could meet rush orders for supplies within a day, if necessary.

 “The target timeline to deploy assets is within 24 hours,” wrote staff.

The Public Health Agency’s claims were proven false when the coronavirus pandemic came to Canada and the agency rationed PPE and sent expired equipment to the provinces.

“Given scarcity, jurisdictions are encouraged to explore alternatives,” the Public Health Agency wrote in a 2020 memo.

In May 2019, the Public Health Agency disposed of 2 million N95 masks and 440,000 medical gloves after closing its stockpile warehouse in Winnipeg. The lost PPE was never replaced and the agency has never explained why.

Despite being warned as early as February, the Trudeau government never acted to address the PPE shortage.

In June, Health Minister Patty Hajdu attempted to blame the provinces for not doing more to prepare for the pandemic.

“The federal government isn’t really in the business of providing personal protective equipment for provinces and territories,” she told the Senate social affairs committee.

“The Public Health Agency of Canada is a very small Agency. Successive rounds of governments have not made substantial investments in the Public Health Agency.”

Before the pandemic, the Public Health Agency had a budget of $675 million, with the emergency stockpile having an alleged value of $300 million.

The government has spent at least $1.8 billion on supplies that were supposed to be in the national stockpile this year, at prices up to 380% higher than normal.

“Money. Meh. No problem ;),”: bureaucrats dismiss cost of WE Charity contract

By
True North Wire
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Senior bureaucrats told each other not to worry about the cost of the WE Charity contract and admitted that the logic behind the deal was shakey in private emails.

On Wednesday, Conservative finance critic Pierre Poilievre tweeted examples of the 5000 documents and communications the finance committee have received as part investigation into the infamous $912 million federal contract with WE Charity.

When the added cost of the contract was mentioned in an email thread, the Assistant Deputy Minister for Finance Michelle Kovacevic joked that the cost was irrelevant to her.

“Money. Meh. No problem ;),” Kovacevic wrote.

In another email, Kovacevic admitted that the government used “loosely goosey logic” when they issued the contract to WE to administer the Canada Student Service Grant.  

In July, it was revealed that members of the Trudeau family have been paid $564,846 by WE for work and travel over the past decade. WE has since walked away from the lucrative contract.

While Trudeau once claimed that WE was the only group capable of taking the contract, one email shared by Poilievre showed that the Treasury Board did not know if WE had the “capacity to undertake this work.”

Various emails released suggest that Trudeau and the PMO interfered with the grant-application process to ensure WE got the contract.

Many of the documents released Wednesday were heavily redacted, removing most of the important information. Poilievre said that some information in the documents is inconsistent with testimony witnesses have given the finance committee.

Poilievre also noted that Trudeau only released the documents after he prorogued parliament, shutting down any further investigation for five weeks.

“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,” he told reporters.

WE Charity document disclosure reveals possible federal meddling in service grant choice

By
True North Wire
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A trove of documents released by the Liberal government reveals that the public service may have been pressured into picking WE Charity to oversee a $900 million student service grant.

Over 5,000 pages of government files were released earlier today to the finance committee. 

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau promised to release the information on Tuesday after he announced a sudden prorogation of parliament. The day prior, Finance Minister Bill Morneau resigned from his position in the Liberal cabinet. 

The opposition has accused the prime minister of using prorogation to halt any further investigations into his conduct regarding the WE Charity scandal. 

Contained in the package are memorandums, emails and text messages which reference WE Charity’s oversight of the Canada Student Service Grant.  

One email dated to April 19 by the senior assistant deputy minister of Employment and Social Development Canada Rachel Wernick includes a request to speak to WE Charity founder Craig Kielburger about “something we are working on that might be of interest to WE.”

A day later, another 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.” 

Throughout the scandal, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has claimed that it was the public service which was solely responsible for handing the organization the lucrative contract despite close personal and financial ties between him and other members of the Liberal cabinet and WE. 

“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. 

Conservative MP and finance critic Pierre Poilievre called the prime minister’s actions an attempted cover-up during a press conference earlier this afternoon. 

 “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 Poilievre.

A number of key documents within the info dump released to the committee were completely blacked out or partially redacted. 

“Why don’t we ask what’s in those pages in a Parliamentary committee? Justin Trudeau shut down those Parliamentary committees. When did he do it? The same day these documents became public! What a coincidence,” said Poilievre.

Media outlets on bailout panel award themselves federal grants

By
True North
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Media executives who were given control of a federal grant program for the journalism sector gave their own companies generous payouts.

According to Blacklock’s Reporter, media executives sitting on the Local Journalism Initiative judging panel have approved their own organizations for grants to hire new employees.

Startup news outlets were not allowed to apply for grants.

The $50 million Local Journalism Initiative was created by Heritage Canada in 2019, with control given to organizations within the press industry. Several managers of prominent mainstream news outlets sit on the judging panel.

One panel member is Winnipeg Free Press publisher Bob Cox. The Free Press was awarded grants to hire two new reporters, including a “climate change correspondent.”

“We will tell stories that need to be on the public record from around the province. We do it on the farm. We do it in the oil patch. We do it where the permafrost is melting,” Free Press wrote on its application to the panel.

Cox, who chaired the newspaper lobby’s pursuit of a bailout from the federal government, told MPs in 2019 that the push for federal support was not for his own interest.

“These measures have been called a bailout by some. I would suggest this crowd knows very little about the business of operating a newspaper,” he told the Commons Finance committee

“There has also been the suggestion newspapers will be beholden to the federal government, not independent, and more likely to give favourable coverage. Well, I have not noticed this happening.”

True North reached out to Cox for comment on whether his role as a panel member ever influenced the decision to award subsidies to his publication. 

“Panel members did not and do not consider any applications that may involve a business conflict. I was not present for any discussion of applications either from my own company, FP Canadian Newspapers, or any media companies competing in the Manitoba market,” Cox told True North.

“I was also not informed of the outcome of panel discussions on these matters. The newspaper editors were informed in the same way and at the same time as other applicants.”

Another panel member is National Observer editor-in-chief Linda Solomon Wood, whose outlet was awarded two grants by the panel.

The President and CEO of News Media Canada John Hinds also told True North that the decision-making process included protocols meant to deal with situations where members faced a conflict of interest. 

“In setting up the panel and the process we sought advice from other granting bodies and agencies who faced similar situations. Based on that advice we set up a protocol to handle situations where panel members are affiliated with organizations who have submitted applications,” said Hinds.

“The affected members must declare a conflict and not participate in or be present for the discussion of the relevant application. In addition the decision of the panel is not released to the member before decisions are communicated to all applicants. This was followed in the case of the Winnipeg Free Press.” 

A former Winnipeg Free Press editor with a history of pro-Liberal statements Margo Goodhand is currently advising the federal government on how to dispense bailout funds.

Unifor, which actively campaigned against Andrew Scheer and the Conservative party in 2019, is part of the committee that decided which media outlets are “qualified” enough to deserve funding.

“This is a cover-up,”: MP Pierre Poilievre says about WE Charity document redactions

By
True North Wire
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Conservative MP and finance critic Pierre Poilievre accused Prime Minister Justin Trudeau of engaging in a “cover-up” of the WE Charity scandal.

On Tuesday, Trudeau announced he would be releasing requested documents on WE Charity to the ethics committee shortly after he prorogued parliament.

During a press conference on Wednesday, Poilievre pointed out inconsistencies between the content of the documents and testimonies provided to the committee. Poilievre also slammed the Liberals for redacting crucial information from the disclosure. 

“Why don’t we ask what’s in those pages in a Parliamentary committee? Justin Trudeau shut down those Parliamentary committees. When did he do it? The same day these documents became public! What a coincidence,” said Poilievre. 

The Conservatives have accused the prime minister of using prorogation as an excuse to avoid further scrutiny of his involvement in awarding WE Charity a $900 million student service grant contract. 

Trudeau was implicated in the scandal, alongside former Finance Minister Bill Morneau, after reports of personal and financial ties between the two and WE emerged in July.  

“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 Poilievre. 

According to disclosures, Trudeau’s mother Margaret Trudeau was paid $479,944 for various speaking engagements with the organization. 

When pressed on the total amount of money the Trudeau family received from WE during a testimony by the prime minister earlier this month, Trudeau failed to provide a dollar value.

“My mother and my brother are professionals in their own right who have engagements and have for many, many years, with many different organizations across the country, and I don’t have the details of their work experiences or expenses,” Trudeau said.

Before his exit from the Liberal cabinet, Morneau apologized for accepting a family trip from WE and stated that he had reimbursed the charity $41,366. 

Going Prorogue

By
Andrew Lawton
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Justin Trudeau has prorogued parliament for a little over a month, despite calling prorogation an assault on democracy when the Conservatives took similar action. Trudeau says it’s different when he does it, however. Yes, because it means halting an investigation into the Liberals’ cozy relationship with WE Charity, True North’s Andrew Lawton says.

Also, Bill Morneau is out as finance minister and Chrystia Freeland is in, plus, a preview of True North’s Conservative leadership election coverage plans.

WHO forbids Canadian official from testifying before health committee

By
True North Wire
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The World Health Organization is refusing to honour a summons for Canadian official Bruce Aylward to testify before the House of Commons health committee. 

According to Blacklock’s Reporter, the WHO’s refusal is the latest in a number of rejections for Aylward to testify.

“From day one the Organization acted to respond as rapidly as the science, evidence and reporting to WHO would allow,” wrote the organization in a letter to the committee.

Critics have accused Aylward of praising China throughout the early stages of the coronavirus pandemic. 

On February 25, Aylward claimed that China had “done a huge amount of work” and was “successful” in its handling of the virus. 

According to a University of Sherbrooke Study titled WHO Global Response To COVID-19: Communicating Risk, Risky Communications, the UN agency repeatedly praised China without good reason. 

“China’s actions were praised on multiple occasions by the WHO without scientific background and context,” claimed the study. 

“The World Health Organization in Situation Reports wrongly identified the global risk assessment for three days in a row. This created confusion.” 

In April, Aylward ignored a second request by the committee to testify on the agency’s handling of the coronavirus.

Instead of showing up in person, the WHO sent a lawyer in Aylward’s place to notify them that they could send written questions to the organization indirectly. 

Earlier that month, Aylward also shirked his duty to testify after cancelling his appearance at the last minute. 

Since the outset of the pandemic, the WHO has repeatedly flubbed its coronavirus response and kowtowed to China. 

In a tweet dated to January 14, the WHO spread the false claim made by Chinese officials that there was no “human-to-human transmission,” despite warnings from Taiwan that it had been detected.

Aylward also abruptly ended an interview with Hong Kong outlet RTHK after he was asked why Taiwan was not admitted to the UN body as a member state. 

In a widely shared video interview with the Hong Kong outlet RTHK, Aylward is seen not responding to repeat questions regarding Taiwan’s membership in the UN body.

Prorogation disrupts China committee investigation into Uyghur human rights abuses: MP Garnett Genuis

By
Cosmin Dzsurdzsa
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Conservative MP and member of the Special Committee on Canada-China Relations Garnett Genuis said in an interview with True North that Justin Trudeau’s decision to prorogue parliament undermines Canada’s ability to investigate China’s human rights abuses. 

“It’s really frustrating that now that committee cannot meet because of the prorogation. That’s just one area where, in terms of shutting down the work of parliamentary committees, the prorogation also killed the Canada-China committee which cuts short the important work being done,” Genuis told True North. 

“At the moment we’re looking at Hong Kong but there’s a broader range of issues in terms of the security threats and the human rights issues associated with the Canada-China relationship.” 

On Tuesday, Trudeau announced that he would shut down parliament until September 23rd and pursue a confidence vote following a throne speech. The prime minister’s decision comes after the resignation of former Finance Minister Bill Morneau following their involvement in the WE Charity scandal. 

Deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland has since taken Morneau’s former place.

Genuis recently launched a petition condemning the ongoing genocide of Uyghurs in mainland China being conducted by the Chinese Communist Party. 

Referencing a recent report published by the Associated Press, Genius cites the fact that the Chinese communist regime has used forced sterilization and abortion to dramatically drop the birth rates of the Uyghur minority in East Turkistan. 

“There is now a body of mounting evidence of large-scale efforts by the Chinese government to wipe out the Uyghur people. Such efforts include political and anti-religious indoctrination, arbitrary detention, the separation of children from their families, invasive surveillance, forced labor and even forced organ harvesting,” writes Genuis. 

“The world cannot remain silent in the face of this ongoing atrocity. Canada cannot remain silent.” 

In his petition, Genius calls on the federal government to “formally recognize that Uyghurs in China have been and are being subject to genocide.” 

He also goes on to ask that Canada “use the Justice for Victims of Corrupt Foreign Officials Act (‘Magnitsky Act’) and sanction those that are responsible for the heinous crimes being committed against the Uyghur people.”

According to Genuis, Canada should look to legislation currently on the table in the US like the Uyghur Forced Labour Prevention Act to prevent doing business with companies involved in exploiting Uyghur slave labour. 

“We need to pass tough new legislation to ensure that we are not importing or buying products that have slave labour in them and also that Canadian entities are not invested in security companies that are facilitating this genocide,” said Genuis.

“The government has done nothing in this respect. The government is importing PPE from China with absolutely no safeguard to ensure there’s not slave labour involved in the production of that.” 

In July, fellow Conservative MP and labour critic John Williamson called on Canada to launch an independent inquiry into Uyghurs being forced into labour in the Xinjiang region by Chinese authorities. 

“Canadians expect their government to oppose forced labour, defend the rights of workers and principles of fair trade, and speak out against exploitative trade practices and cases of human slavery. This practice in Xinjiang certainly violates that,” said Williamson. 

As exclusively reported by True North, Uyghur rights advocates have urged the Canadian government to reject Huawei’s bid to build Canada’s 5G network over its involvement in the oppression of the ethnic minority at home and abroad. 

“Given the evidence that Huawei plays an integral part of the massive surveillance state in East Turkistan and the constant harassment the Uyghurs in Canada witness, this leaves us with legitimate concerns about Huawei’s 5G technology being used to target even more the Uyghurs in Canada,” Program & Advocacy Manager of the World Uyghur Congress, Zumretay Arking, told True North. 

FUREY: Chrystia Freeland — future leader or Trudeau lackey?

By
True North
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This “bold change” seems to be an NDP-style assault on the Canadian economy that we may soon find includes things like a basic income, taxpayer-funded daycare, a further phasing out of the oils sands, even more aggressive green energy schemes and, of course, higher taxes.

It’s hard to imagine Trudeau would switch finance ministers just before this planned prorogation reset unless he knew for sure he was getting someone who would work more to implement his far-left agenda, rather than temper it.

The rise of Chrystia Freeland as a political force in her own right is likely being oversold. Perhaps she’s just the most talented and useful of the Trudeau lackeys.

Read True North’s Anthony Furey’s latest in the Toronto Sun.

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