Evidence of meeting #24 for Access to Information, Privacy and Ethics in the 43rd Parliament, 2nd Session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was program.
A video is available from Parliament.
4 p.m.
Liberal
Han Dong Liberal Don Valley North, ON
Thank you.
I think Mr. Marc Kielburger also tried to answer my first question, which had to do with the impact on your family and your staff's families.
Please go ahead.
4 p.m.
Founder, WE Charity
I appreciate the opportunity.
It's been absolutely devastating. We've dedicated 25 years of our lives to helping young people in Canada and around the world. We're certainly not perfect, Mr. Sorbara. We've apologized, and we'll continue to apologize for our errors. We've certainly made a lot along the way, but I think everybody here on this Zoom call would feel the same way: that we've all made mistakes. I just want to say that this has been the most devastating year for our organization but also for our staff and the kids.
I just feel that we've lost sight of what this should have been all about. It should have been about Canadian kids being helped during a pandemic. I ask again.... I ask you to come through bipartisan lines to help Canadian kids this summer, to help students this summer; just put down the politics for a moment and help students this summer get what they need through employment opportunities. Do this together as parliamentarians coming together to help the young people in your constituencies.
4 p.m.
Conservative
The Chair Conservative Chris Warkentin
Now, as I promised, I said that we would break for a health break at this point in time, so we will do that. We will convene back here in five minutes, so we would be back here at 4:06, according to my clock.
The meeting is suspended.
4:05 p.m.
Conservative
The Chair Conservative Chris Warkentin
Colleagues, I'll call this meeting back to order.
I'll turn to Mr. Carrie now for the next round of questions.
4:05 p.m.
Conservative
Colin Carrie Conservative Oshawa, ON
Thank you very much, Mr. Chair.
Thank you to the witnesses for being here today.
If I'm the bank and I want to soften my image by donating to you, I can be seen on stage with you. You can say some nice things about me, take some photos with celebrities, and give me the opportunity to literally address tens of thousands of young kids—as well as their teachers—my future customers. All in all, I would say that is very valuable.
Now, how much would I have to contribute in order to get that red-carpet treatment?
4:05 p.m.
Founder, WE Charity
I'm assuming you're talking about WE schools and WE Days. It depends, but it would be a very generous contribution to the organization, absolutely. We're very proud of that and we state that.
4:05 p.m.
Conservative
Colin Carrie Conservative Oshawa, ON
You don't have to give me an exact amount but for somebody like KPMG or RBC, in order to get that experience for that company, what would they donate approximately? Just give me a ballpark figure, please.
4:05 p.m.
Founder, WE Charity
Those are our former partners and, obviously, to be respectful to them we can't state dollar amounts, but allow me to state that they would be very generous to the organization. I'm sorry, I think I know where you're going on this. I don't think we need to name the specifics about some of our former partners, who are just—
4:05 p.m.
Conservative
Colin Carrie Conservative Oshawa, ON
No, no. I'm just saying is it less than $100,000? Less than $1 million? Where would you put it?
4:05 p.m.
Conservative
Colin Carrie Conservative Oshawa, ON
Okay, good. That's fine.
I'm not a company, I'm a politician, but I can tell you if you allowed me to go up on stage and repeat the exact same thing where I get to be photographed, you compliment me on stage, you let me address tens of thousands of future voters who know that you've already vetted me, man, that would be super valuable to me.
Just out of curiosity, what did you charge Mr. Trudeau for that when he appeared at WE events?
4:05 p.m.
Founder, WE Charity
I respect the question. I understand what you're getting at.
WE Charity [Technical difficulty—Editor] always invites the Prime Minister, no matter who the Prime Minister is, including Prime Minister Harper. The Prime Minister and the Governor General, the premier and the mayor of every city were always invited in every case. That same invitation went to Prime Minister Harper as went to Prime Minister Trudeau.
We did it, frankly, not for the politicians. We did it because we believe that young people should have a chance to interact with the politicians, to see this as a chance to learn more about how government works.
I understand the question. I sincerely do. When, frankly, we were popular we had politicians of every...premiers, mayors and prime ministers running there. We know it doesn't take a lot of courage to give us a kick now, we understand that, but we were grateful to welcome them from every province, from every stripe of political office, whether it be the after-party that Laureen Harper held for us and Erin O'Toole was there, to the celebration with Wab Kinew with the NDP, to you name it.
4:10 p.m.
Conservative
Colin Carrie Conservative Oshawa, ON
I'm just trying to put a value on it because there seem to be different criteria for WE endorsements. Companies will pay a certain amount but if the recipient of all this attention on stage is a politician, for example, that can look a little bit different. If the Prime Minister gets a certain treatment similar to big companies but big companies may be paying half a million dollars for it, people will ask the question, what is this charity, this WE Day event, expecting in return? You said you gave the same opportunity to all other political parties.
4:10 p.m.
Founder, WE Charity
We did. We invited, as Craig mentioned, Mr. Harper many times to come to WE Day and he declined. We've had support from all political parties in the past.
4:10 p.m.
Conservative
Colin Carrie Conservative Oshawa, ON
I see.
I noticed too, before the last election, that WE produced a video that featured [Technical difficulty—Editor] where the Prime Minister [Technical difficulty—Editor] and invest in our youngest leaders. I saw that video. It was very well done, but it looked exactly like a campaign ad. If you're non-partisan, how many similar videos were made starring Andrew Scheer, Jagmeet Singh or Elizabeth May? Can you give me an answer to that?
4:10 p.m.
Founder, WE Charity
Sure.
We had 50 people featured in the campaign. The Prime Minister was invited as the Prime Minister for an event celebrating Canada. With respect to other MPs, we didn't direct it to him as an individual, we directed it to the Prime Minister of Canada for an event on Canada's 150th anniversary. It certainly wasn't a campaign ad. The whole message of the campaign was encouraging youth to volunteer. We put that call out across Canada. We thought it appropriate for the Prime Minister to be one of the people calling on youth to volunteer.
4:10 p.m.
Conservative
Colin Carrie Conservative Oshawa, ON
I saw that video and it was extremely well produced. Exactly how much did you pay Door Knocker Media to produce that video?
4:10 p.m.
Founder, WE Charity
I wouldn't have that number off the top of my head but you're right. It was a substantial campaign. We had 50 people. We had photographers. We had videographers. We had a curriculum that we pushed out on the environment and volunteerism. I'm sure hundreds of thousands of dollars were spent on that whole program in total.
4:10 p.m.
Conservative
Colin Carrie Conservative Oshawa, ON
Maybe you could get me the approximate amount you spent on that video. For me, it seems to be very much a political video.
Out of curiosity, I guess the Liberal Party or the Prime Minister didn't reimburse you for any of the production of that video.
4:10 p.m.
Conservative
Colin Carrie Conservative Oshawa, ON
I see.
Could you tell me how many WE events Prime Minister Harper spoke at? Did you ever make a video with him?
4:10 p.m.
Founder, WE Charity
We invited Prime Minister Harper many times to come to WE events. We did the pitch to him and invited his wife, who came to the WE Days. His kids came to the WE Days, but we couldn't get him to come, unfortunately. We tried our best. It was a full-court press. He came to none of the WE Days, unfortunately, but we do appreciate that they hosted the celebration after WE Day at the official residence. It was very nice of Prime Minister Harper to do so and it was very nice of his wife.
Sincerely, I know this has become political somehow. I understand some people may question the number of times that the Prime Minister was on the stage, but it really was our intention just to try to get youth to serve in this country.
4:10 p.m.
Liberal
The Vice-Chair Liberal Brenda Shanahan
Thank you very much.
I am back as chair because we've lost our regular chair.
We now go to Mr. Erskine-Smith for five minutes.