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.

On the agenda

MPs speaking

Also speaking

Marc Kielburger  Founder, WE Charity
Clerk of the Committee  Ms. Miriam Burke
Craig Kielburger  Founder, WE Charity

5:15 p.m.

Conservative

The Chair Conservative Chris Warkentin

We'll always make up that time.

If you have just a short question, we can probably get it in.

5:15 p.m.

Liberal

Francesco Sorbara Liberal Vaughan—Woodbridge, ON

Gentlemen, do you have any quick points on the conversations you had in the prior years, in 2017, 2018 and 2019, with regard to your interactions with the government and how programs were put in place, and so forth?

5:15 p.m.

Founder, WE Charity

Craig Kielburger

Thank you.

Again, I know I said it very quickly, but I don't think most people understand how this program came to be.

Rachel Wernick first came to visit our office in October 2017 to see about our capacity.

On June 29, 2018, we were awarded $800,000 for a youth service initiative to test programs to engage youth nationally in service. Of course, this had been a long-standing [Technical difficulty--Editor] the government launching a national service program.

On May 19, ESDC asked us to put together a white paper on how the civil service could implement a national service program.

On August 21, 2019, they came to us again to deepen that conversation.

On March 6, they asked us to prepare again a follow-up white paper for their civil service.

These were requests that came to us from the civil service because of our capacity on this. This wasn't out of the blue. This wasn't a sudden pandemic issue. We had been the go-to for the government in helping to support, as were many other charities, so we have a deep relationship with Rachel Wernick and ESDC.

I feel bad that she got dragged into this also. This whole program should have just happened for kids.

5:15 p.m.

Conservative

The Chair Conservative Chris Warkentin

Thanks so much.

We'll turn to Mr. Fortin for the next two and a half minutes.

Monsieur Fortin.

5:15 p.m.

Bloc

Rhéal Fortin Bloc Rivière-du-Nord, QC

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

I have a quick question—

5:15 p.m.

Conservative

Colin Carrie Conservative Oshawa, ON

Mr. Chair, on a quick point of order, just looking at my notes, I think we're starting at around five o'clock, and that means the Conservatives would go first. Am I correct?

5:15 p.m.

Conservative

The Chair Conservative Chris Warkentin

No, you're not correct—

5:15 p.m.

Conservative

Colin Carrie Conservative Oshawa, ON

Okay.

5:15 p.m.

Conservative

The Chair Conservative Chris Warkentin

—but thank you. We can touch base.

Monsieur Fortin.

5:15 p.m.

Bloc

Rhéal Fortin Bloc Rivière-du-Nord, QC

Mr. Chair, I hope that my time doesn't run out, especially given the interpretation during the objections and opening remarks of my colleagues. I'll rely on your good judgment.

In 2017-18, the WE Charity failed to fulfill some financial commitments. We've had people tell us that this wasn't a big deal and that it didn't affect your ability to set up the program when the agreement was made. We've also heard from people who questioned the solvency of the WE Charity.

Mr. Kielburger, my question is the following. Before you were given the student grant contract, did anyone in the federal government investigate these failures to fulfill your financial commitments?

5:20 p.m.

Founder, WE Charity

Marc Kielburger

Mr. Fortin, I believe you're speaking about the issue of bank covenants, widely misunderstood in this conversation. It was one line out of 27 pages of audits. There was a technical breach. Our banker, RBC, had no concerns about it. Specifically, we changed our fiscal year and the subsequent year had contracts that were part of the past fiscal year. As a result, we had a technical breach on our bank covenants and [Technical difficulty--Editor]—

5:20 p.m.

Bloc

Rhéal Fortin Bloc Rivière-du-Nord, QC

I don't want to investigate whether or not this has merit.

I just wanted to know whether anyone in the government investigated.

Did any government representative tell you that they had concerns, that they had questions about this matter, and that they wanted to know what was going on?

5:20 p.m.

Founder, WE Charity

Marc Kielburger

Our financial audits were online and there were no questions asked specifically on the issue of bank covenants.

5:20 p.m.

Bloc

Rhéal Fortin Bloc Rivière-du-Nord, QC

Thank you. That's what I wanted to know. So you weren't asked any questions about this matter.

You also said that, when it comes to your conferences, you have no longer been doing business with the Trudeau family since the events of last summer.

Can one of you tell me why Ms. Trudeau will no longer be giving speeches for the WE Charity?

March 15th, 2021 / 5:20 p.m.

Founder, WE Charity

Marc Kielburger

Are you speaking on behalf of Margaret Trudeau? Is that correct, sir?

5:20 p.m.

Bloc

Rhéal Fortin Bloc Rivière-du-Nord, QC

Yes, for example, why are you no longer inviting Margaret Trudeau to give speeches?

5:20 p.m.

Founder, WE Charity

Marc Kielburger

Well, because of the pandemic, we haven't had any conferences since, but also, of course, because of the politics. The pandemic is the principal reason.

5:20 p.m.

Conservative

The Chair Conservative Chris Warkentin

Thank you so much, Mr. Fortin.

We're going to turn to Mr. Angus for the next two and a half minutes.

5:20 p.m.

Bloc

Rhéal Fortin Bloc Rivière-du-Nord, QC

My two minutes are up already, Mr. Chair?

5:20 p.m.

Conservative

The Chair Conservative Chris Warkentin

The time is up. We certainly—

5:20 p.m.

Bloc

Rhéal Fortin Bloc Rivière-du-Nord, QC

You took off the—

5:20 p.m.

Conservative

The Chair Conservative Chris Warkentin

It seems shorter than the last one because I gave you so much time in the last one.

Mr. Angus.

5:20 p.m.

NDP

Charlie Angus NDP Timmins—James Bay, ON

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

I don't want to be a bug. I'm sure you're already probably putting more misinformation than I'm claiming on Twitter.

I may not be able to read a budget, you would think, but I can certainly read your emails, when you supply them. This idea of dragging Rachel Wernick continually, I find really troublesome. She did not reach out to you. You had already established this.

It says, Craig Kielburger—now I hope we're not going to have another LinkedIn moment—to Minister Chagger:

Dear Minister Chagger,

Thank you again for your time Friday.

That's April 17.

We appreciate your thoughtful offer to connect us with relevant members of your Ministry.

That would be Rachel Wernick.

Over the weekend

—that's the two days before Rachel Wernick reaches out to you—

our team has also been hard at work to adapt your suggestion of a second stream focused on a summer service opportunity.

We have outlined a 3-month summer service/jobs opportunity engaging 20,000 young people

And you basically list what becomes the Canada summer student grant.

I bet you don't have to register time as a lobbyist for having spent all that time, all weekend, before Rachel Wernick contacted you, because, as you said, you're just a volunteer.

That's the record. All this misinformation that you talked to her three years ago is irrelevant. You talked to the minister on April 17—you don't seem to want to deal with that—and then you contacted her to remind her that you talked to her on the 17th, and she was going to put you in touch—which she did—on the 19th.

That's the record.

But because I only have a few seconds left, I want to go back to Reed Cowan, a member of your advisory board. For you to tell us you're really shocked, and this only ever happened once, even though we know you took down at least two of his plaques.... He has asked for a police investigation. He has asked for the IRS to investigate you. He has raised hundreds of thousands of dollars. Are you telling Reed Cowan, and all the other donors across this country and across North America, that this velcro plaque scheme that your staff bragged about only happened twice?

5:20 p.m.

Founder, WE Charity

Craig Kielburger

Sir, we are grateful to every single one of our donors. When a mistake is made, no one is more upset than us, and I am so upset about this, and I—

5:20 p.m.

NDP

Charlie Angus NDP Timmins—James Bay, ON

I know. But David Stillman, of the Stillman Foundation, who paid for all the audits that exonerated you, he had a conversation with Mr. Cowan, we were told. Someone who was paying your audits, represents you, calls Mr. Cowan, and he tells him to drop it. He says to just drop it. That's not exactly saying you're sorry, it's like you're making the organization look bad.

Again, are you telling me this only happened twice in all these velcro plaques, that people were lying to Bloomberg, were lying to The Fifth Estate, Mr. Cowan just is upset and got it wrong? Is that your position? That's all I need to know, is that your position?