Finance Committee on July 16th, 2020

[Bardish Chagger, Liberal, Waterloo, ON]

I had those discussions with a number of public servants.

[Rhéal Fortin, Bloc, Rivière-du-Nord, QC]

Who exactly?

[Bardish Chagger, Liberal, Waterloo, ON]

Ms. Wernick was one. My deputy, who is here, is another. She knows I asked those questions and can speak to that, if you'd like.

[Rhéal Fortin, Bloc, Rivière-du-Nord, QC]

Did you put the question to anyone in the Prime Minister's office?

[Bardish Chagger, Liberal, Waterloo, ON]

I put those questions to the public service. It was actually the public service's responsibility to provide me with a recommendation regarding who should deliver the program.

[Rhéal Fortin, Bloc, Rivière-du-Nord, QC]

In January 2018, the Prime Minister proudly described Canada service corps as an unparalleled organization capable of administering the program, with the support of 10 other organizations.

What happened between January 2018 and April 2020 to cause Canada service corps and the other organizations to be ousted from the process?

[Bardish Chagger, Liberal, Waterloo, ON]

I'll ask my deputy to answer that.

[Rhéal Fortin, Bloc, Rivière-du-Nord, QC]

I'd like to know whether you, yourself, know.

[Bardish Chagger, Liberal, Waterloo, ON]

I was advised that the program was receiving too many applications for the organizations to handle. Other options were explored and recommendations were made. The members of the public service know better than I do why they recommended what they did.

[Rhéal Fortin, Bloc, Rivière-du-Nord, QC]

Do you think Canada service corps was no longer fit to administer the program?

[Bardish Chagger, Liberal, Waterloo, ON]

I think Canada service corps does great work, but this is a new program with a lot of people applying. The program met with unprecedented demand because of the pandemic, and I think it was necessary to determine who could meet the demand.

[The Chair, Liberal, Wayne Easter]

This is your last question, Monsieur Fortin.

[Rhéal Fortin, Bloc, Rivière-du-Nord, QC]

What makes WE Charity more qualified than Canada service corps to administer the program?

[Bardish Chagger, Liberal, Waterloo, ON]

I was told by public servants that WE Charity had the capacity and network necessary to administer the program. The idea was to ensure that as many young Canadians and not-for-profit organizations as possible could benefit from the program. It was supposed to reach as many people as possible. It's a program that—

[The Chair, Liberal, Wayne Easter]

We will have to end it there, but I will give Ms. Wilson a chance, if she wanted to add further to what the minister said on that previous point.

Ms. Wilson.

[Gina Wilson]

Mr. Chair, thank you.

The program Mr. Fortin is referring to is the Canada service corps. It's a program that continues and, in fact, was enhanced to some degree as well, so everyone involved with the Canada service corps is working very hard.

[The Chair, Liberal, Wayne Easter]

Okay.

We'll turn to Charlie Angus, who will be followed by Mr. Barrett.

Mr. Angus.

[Charlie Angus, NDP, Timmins—James Bay, ON]

Thank you so much, Mr. Chair. It's great to be on committee with you again.

It's good to see you, Minister.

Mr. Chair, is it possible to make sure we maintain the short question, short answer, because I only have six minutes?

[The Chair, Liberal, Wayne Easter]

I will endeavour to do that.

[Charlie Angus, NDP, Timmins—James Bay, ON]

Thank you so much.

Today, the Ethics Commissioner announced an investigation into Minister Bill Morneau. That's two ethics investigations, unprecedented: the finance minister and the sitting Prime Minister. This happened on your watch, Minister, because you brought this $900-million program to cabinet.

When you brought it forward for discussion, were you aware of the family links between the Trudeau family and WE, and the Morneau family and WE?

[Bardish Chagger, Liberal, Waterloo, ON]

Mr. Chair, my focus was really on making sure there was additional support for young Canadians, for students, and that's why—

[Charlie Angus, NDP, Timmins—James Bay, ON]

That's not the question. The question was, were you aware?

[Bardish Chagger, Liberal, Waterloo, ON]

—it was part of the suite of programs that we put forward.

When I brought the proposal forward.... First of all, it should be known that the Prime Minister, prior to me, was the Minister of Youth. It is a portfolio that he kept on—

[Charlie Angus, NDP, Timmins—James Bay, ON]

Sorry, that's not the question.

[Bardish Chagger, Liberal, Waterloo, ON]

—and before being the youth minister, he was also the critic for youth, because Canadians are well aware that when it comes to—