Finance Committee on July 16th, 2020

[Rachel Wernick]

Yes, Mr. Chair, I did provide my remarks in both English and French to the clerk, and I ask that they be put on the record, please.

[The Chair, Liberal, Wayne Easter]

Okay, so you're ready to go?

[Rachel Wernick]

Yes.

[The Chair, Liberal, Wayne Easter]

Thank you, both, for your presentations.

We'll start with—

[Rachel Wernick]

Sorry, Mr. Chair. I was going to finish. I was just commenting that I had provided the written text. I would like to finish my remarks, if you permit.

[The Chair, Liberal, Wayne Easter]

Yes, go ahead, and if you can wrap up fairly rapidly, the floor is yours.

[Rachel Wernick]

The third party needed massive speed, reach and scale, an ability to quickly mobilize the whole country. The third party needed a demonstrated track record of mobilizing youth for service and to be technologically strong. Some of the bodies we considered and set aside were small advocacy groups with no program delivery experience. Other organizations did not have experience with youth, nor did they have strong technological capacity. Many had never delivered a program of such complexity.

I did engage WE Charity as a potential partner, letting them know the broad parameters of what the government was looking for. They were an obvious option as the largest youth service charity in Canada, with high technological capacity and a Facebook following of four million youth. They had already provided to several officials and ministers a proposal related to social entrepreneurship and indicated it could be adapted as needed.

On April 22, WE Charity sent me a detailed proposal to quickly develop tens of thousands of volunteer placements for youth within a few weeks. Given the need for speed and scale, I determined, with my team and colleagues, that their draft proposal was the best available option in the time we had to work with. The team proceeded to work up the proposed initiative in a form that could be vetted by central agencies and considered by cabinet.

I sent the draft cabinet proposal to the deputy minister for approval, and her office sent it on to the minister in early May.

To be clear, the department's recommendation was that a contribution agreement with WE Charity to mobilize other not-for-profit partners was the best available option, given the requirement for speed, scope, scale and to reach a broad diversity of youth.

Thank you.

[The Chair, Liberal, Wayne Easter]

Thank you very much, Ms. Wernick.

We will now go to questions. It will be a six-minute round. First up is Mr. Poilievre, and then Ms. Dzerowicz.

Mr. Poilievre, the floor is yours.

[Pierre Poilievre, Conservative, Carleton, ON]

Ms. Wernick, you said that WE Charity sent a proposal to ministers and officials for a social entrepreneurship program. Then you described how that proposal was converted, through your recommendation, into this Canada student service grant. To how many officials and ministers did WE originally send this proposal?

[Rachel Wernick]

Mr. Chair, I don't have that information in front of me, but I'm happy to provide that in writing to the committee.

[Pierre Poilievre, Conservative, Carleton, ON]

Who first informed you that WE had made this proposal to the government?

[Rachel Wernick]

WE Charity, as I mentioned.... I reached out to them in the context of exploring options, and they told me about the proposal. I was also aware, because we had prepared a briefing note for Minister Chagger, that she had received a copy of the proposal, and WE Charity mentioned that they had shared it with Minister Ng.

I would like to clarify for the committee that this was a separate proposal, but when I was provided a new proposal, it had adapted that one, which had been developed over some time, to adapt to the new parameters set out by the government in the announcement.

[Pierre Poilievre, Conservative, Carleton, ON]

When did you first hear of the WE Charity proposal?

[Rachel Wernick]

When I spoke with WE Charity in the lead-up to the announcement.

[Pierre Poilievre, Conservative, Carleton, ON]

On what date?

[Rachel Wernick]

I spoke to WE Charity on April 19.

[Pierre Poilievre, Conservative, Carleton, ON]

You spoke to them on April 19, and that was the first time you heard about the WE Charity proposal.

[Rachel Wernick]

To the best of my recollection.... However, it is true that the proposal had been shared with ministers—

[Pierre Poilievre, Conservative, Carleton, ON]

When?

[Rachel Wernick]

As I said, Mr. Chair, we will provide those details in writing.

[Pierre Poilievre, Conservative, Carleton, ON]

Did anyone ever tell you whether any ministers had opinions about the WE Charity proposal, prior to your recommending in favour of it?

[Rachel Wernick]

I need to clarify, Mr. Chair, that the proposal I'm speaking about is a different proposal, which I believe was adapted following the announcement and submitted.

[Pierre Poilievre, Conservative, Carleton, ON]

Right, so my question, again, doesn't change. Can you answer it, please?

[Rachel Wernick]

I'm sorry; can you repeat it? It's not clear to me what the question is.

[Pierre Poilievre, Conservative, Carleton, ON]

Did anyone tell you the opinions of any of the ministers on this proposal that WE Charity had circulated within cabinet?