Evidence of meeting #45 for Finance in the 43rd Parliament, 1st Session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was sir.
A video is available from Parliament.
3:40 p.m.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Wayne Easter
I don't think that's a point of order. You've made your point.
Mr. Barrett, the floor is yours.
3:40 p.m.
Conservative
Michael Barrett Conservative Leeds—Grenville—Thousand Islands and Rideau Lakes, ON
Mr. Chair, on the point of order....
3:40 p.m.
Conservative
Michael Barrett Conservative Leeds—Grenville—Thousand Islands and Rideau Lakes, ON
My questions are unique. They are mine to ask. Ms. Dzerowicz wants to play defence for her team; I'm looking to get answers for Canadians. So, if I could continue my time uninterrupted, I would appreciate it.
3:40 p.m.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Wayne Easter
You can continue your time. That's not a point of order, in any event.
You have about a minute and a half left.
3:40 p.m.
Conservative
Michael Barrett Conservative Leeds—Grenville—Thousand Islands and Rideau Lakes, ON
Thank you.
With respect to events around WE Day, we heard that Margaret Trudeau wasn't paid for the event she spoke at on July 2, 2017. Was she paid for any other events that weekend?
3:40 p.m.
Founder, WE Charity
No, sir, she was not.
I just want to stress again that we're happy to answer your questions. We're here to answer the questions.
3:40 p.m.
Conservative
Michael Barrett Conservative Leeds—Grenville—Thousand Islands and Rideau Lakes, ON
Thank you.
With respect to Mr. Theo Fleury, who did participate in one of your events, did he participate in any event outside of the WE Day stage?
3:45 p.m.
Founder, WE Charity
Thank you, sir. I believe he participated in one. We have great respect for him. I'm a big fan. However, our understanding is that his activities outside of WE Day were very limited. I can't speak to that directly, but I would assume that the answer is likely no, sir.
3:45 p.m.
Conservative
Michael Barrett Conservative Leeds—Grenville—Thousand Islands and Rideau Lakes, ON
So he was not remunerated for those halo events.
3:45 p.m.
Founder, WE Charity
Sir, we're not sure if he was at the halo events, and I can't speak to that directly.
However, when we bring in speakers, sir, who are paid, it's for the multitude of ancillary events that are formal and formalized within their [Technical difficulty--Editor].
3:45 p.m.
Founder, WE Charity
Allow me to.... I'm pretty confident that was the reason why he was remunerated—
3:45 p.m.
Founder, WE Charity
Though, again, he's a wonderful person, and we were thrilled to have him.
3:45 p.m.
Founder, WE Charity
Yes, we are absolutely grateful for...as were the hundreds of people on the WE Day stage to welcome over a million young Canadians, and 70 million hours—
3:45 p.m.
Conservative
Michael Barrett Conservative Leeds—Grenville—Thousand Islands and Rideau Lakes, ON
With respect to the change in the fall of 2015 and your interest in paying members of the Trudeau family to speak, was there a particular change in their qualification, other than that Justin Trudeau had been elected as the Prime Minister?
I ask because I've hear Liberal members who really want to talk about the wife of former prime minister Stephen Harper. Indeed, Laureen Harper did host an event, and so they were keenly interested in that. I'm wondering if Mr. Lake, Madam Harper, Mr. Pallister, were paid by your organization or did they engage you with a half-a-billion-dollar contract?
3:45 p.m.
Founder, WE Charity
Sir, we really appreciate the fact that, as premier, Premier Pallister did a welcome at the beginning. We appreciate that given his work on autism, the member of Parliament, Mike Lake, spoke with his son multiple times on the WE Day stage, which was extraordinary.
And we appreciate Margaret Trudeau as an activist on mental health. Again, it's one in five Canadians, sir, who face this issue. It's a massive issue that we are facing with young people in this country. Therefore, we We invited her to come to speak on this topic, and not just on the WE Day stage, sir, but to go to countless events to raise awareness, to help with donations that were raised for charity. This was very successful and a smart thing for the charity. We don't do telemarketing. We don't do street canvassing. We don't do mass fundraising. This is how WE, as a charity, further our mission.
I appreciate the integrity of your question, sir—I sincerely do—but she was there as a mental health advocate.
3:45 p.m.
Founder, WE Charity
On another note, very quickly, Mr. Chair, we did invite former Prime Minister Harper many, many times to speak on WE Day.
3:45 p.m.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Wayne Easter
Okay.
We will go to Ms. Dzerowicz for five minutes, on to Ms. Gaudreau for two and a half minutes, and Mr. Julian for two and a half.
Ms. Dzerowicz, the floor is yours.
3:45 p.m.
Liberal
Julie Dzerowicz Liberal Davenport, ON
Thank you, Mr. Chair.
I have three key questions.
However, before I get to them, I want to clarify very quickly—and so please go through this quickly—the misperception that the only people who have been paid for auxiliary programs were part the Trudeau family.
Can you please, subsequent to this, provide a list to us? It might not be a list of names, because you said there are privacy issues and that you might not be able to follow up...but maybe even if you could just provide us with a list to say that in 2019, WE paid a hundred people and it was this type of range? Just give us some sort of document that provides us with data that shows there's been a whole bunch of speakers who have been paid for auxiliary programs and it's not just the Trudeau family.
Would you be willing to do that?
3:45 p.m.
Founder, WE Charity
Yes, thank you.
I just want to confirm very formally, under oath, that it's not just members of the Trudeau family who have done this. A series of other speakers have also participated in that process.
3:45 p.m.
Liberal
Julie Dzerowicz Liberal Davenport, ON
Okay, thank you so much.
Then another comment.... Mr. Craig Kielburger, you mentioned that Mr. Morneau happened to call you. It was a conversation about how he was asking in general how things were going, and then you sort of mentioned you had submitted the entrepreneurship program.
Can you just clarify that you mentioned you had submitted the program, as opposed to discussing the program?
3:45 p.m.
Founder, WE Charity
Correct. I said that I had submitted it to Minister Ng because of the small business connection. We didn't discuss it at great length.