WE Charity founders Craig and Marc Kielburger are set to appear before a House committee today to answer questions about their controversial partnership with the Liberal government that saw the charity tasked with overseeing a $900 million student grant program.
Michelle Douglas, former chair of the WE Charity board of directors, will appear first before the House finance committee on Tuesday at 12 p.m. and will be followed by the Kielburgers at 1 pm.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Katie Telford, his chief of staff, will appear before the House finance committee on Thursday to answer questions about their role in bringing WE Charity in to run the program.
Last month, Trudeau announced that WE Charity — which has close ties to the Trudeau family — would administer the Canada Student Service Grant, a program to provide eligible students with grants of up to $5,000.
The grants are intended to help students cover the cost of post-secondary education in the fall. The amount of the grant depends on how much time students spend doing volunteer work.
How to watch today’s hearings
CBC News will have full coverage of today’s Commons committee hearings into the WE contract. Watch special coverage with host Vassy Kapelos on an early edition of Power & Politics, 12 noon to 5:00 p.m. ET on CBC News Network or CBC Gem. You can also watch the committee hearings live on cbcnews.ca and on the CBC News app, Facebook and Twitter starting at 12 p.m. ET.
The contract awarded to WE Charity was arranged as a contribution agreement between WE and the federal government, and not through a competitive process. It has since been dissolved.
Shortly after it was announced that WE Charity would be running the program, the Liberal government came under fire from opposition parties and some in the charitable sector over the Trudeau family’s relationship with the charity.
Trudeau and his mother, Margaret, have appeared at a number of WE Day events, while Trudeau’s wife, Sophie Grégoire Trudeau, hosts a podcast for the group called “WE Well-being.”
Initially, WE Charity said members of the Trudeau family were not paid for appearing at WE events, although Sophie Grégoire Trudeau had been reimbursed for travel expenses.
Earlier this month, it emerged that Trudeau’s mother Margaret was paid approximately $250,000 for speaking at 28 events, while his brother Alexandre spoke at eight events and received about $32,000.
The deal is being studied by two parliamentary committees and Trudeau and Finance Minister Bill Morneau are both being investigated by Mario Dion, the conflict of interest and ethics commissioner.