Thank you. I appreciate that.
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.
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.
5 p.m.
Liberal
Annie Koutrakis Liberal Vimy, QC
You're welcome.
We heard through your gruelling testimony, as you said, over the last four hours, time and time again the various theories that are out there, but I think it's very important that we end today's meeting by giving you the opportunity one more time to clarify certain untruths.
A theory is being put forward out there by the opposition and the media, implicitly and even explicitly, which comes down to the following: WE was having financial problems and a scheme was put together, with the concurrence of senior members of the government, to create a large student aid program using the pandemic as an excuse and to direct this contribution agreement to WE to save it financially, based on the profit they would make from the agreement. The implication is that the profit WE would make would be a payback for speaking fees, travel expenses, a job, and a trip given to the Prime Minister or Minister of Finance and for political help to the Liberal Party of Canada.
Is this a true representation of what happened and if not, please address any inaccuracies that may exist in this theory. I kindly remind you that you are under oath.
5:05 p.m.
Founder, WE Charity
This is decisively not a true representation of what took place. Allow me to walk through step by step on that time frame you outlined.
In the spring, like everyone else, we were affected by COVID-19. Like small businesses, non-profits and others across Canada, we had to make many difficult choices and, as the previous witness, Ms. Douglas, testified, it was a difficult time. We had to let people go who were like family to us, but that stabilized the organization. We had over eight months' of assets to carry us forward, long-term contracts with partners to implement projects, and we were in a solid financial position because of those prudent choices.
We were approached by the government, specifically Ms. Wernick, on April 19 to ask us if we were willing to implement a service program. In that case, we sent our best suggestions for her consideration, as per her request. An internal process in government, which we frankly can't speak much to, led at the end of the day to her request for us to work to create this during a pandemic, an extraordinary time of national crisis.
We did our best, created a program that had over 35,000 youth applicants, 64% of whom were people of colour, from coast to coast to coast, including the Northwest Territories, sir, with every other region represented. Through this process, unfortunately, the minute it was announced, it got enmeshed in a political controversy. We did our best. We handed everything over to the governments: the call centres, the manuals, the technology, hoping that the public service could continue to run it. We are heartbroken that it hasn't been able to continue, that the youth have faced these significant challenges as a result and, frankly, we're heartbroken that this whole process has not been a gift to our charity. Far from it. This is something that may destroy 25 years of work in building a national charity in this country, partially because of mistakes we made. We acknowledge and we apologize, but, frankly, significantly because of inaccurate and false information that circulated to the advantage of various groups seeking a political outcome here.
At the end of the day, we had one purpose, and one purpose only, in our actions. This was not about the government helping WE Charity. WE Charity sought to help the government and to help young people.
5:05 p.m.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Wayne Easter
It's a very good note to end on.
I'm sorry, but we're out of time. We're actually over time.
Gentlemen, on behalf of the committee, I want to thank you—first, for requesting to appear for, I believe, it was an hour, and then agreeing to the will of the committee to meet for four hours. We had a lot of information tabled today, I think. I thank you for your forthright answers.
I thank the members for their questions as well.
With that, again, on behalf of the committee, thank you for appearing.
The meeting is adjourned.