Evidence of meeting #51 for Finance in the 43rd Parliament, 1st session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was youth.
A video is available from Parliament.
Former Staff Member, Government and Stakeholder Relations, WE Charity, As an Individual
I'm not entirely sure at this point which call you're referring to. My apologies.
NDP
Peter Julian NDP New Westminster—Burnaby, BC
Okay, so in your call log you have nothing for April 20.
Former Staff Member, Government and Stakeholder Relations, WE Charity, As an Individual
I would have to go back to my records to make sure that my answer is accurate.
NDP
Peter Julian NDP New Westminster—Burnaby, BC
Okay, thank you. If you could get back to us on this, that would be great.
The second proposal from WE, submitted on April 21, was on the CSSG. Do you know who drafted that proposal?
Former Staff Member, Government and Stakeholder Relations, WE Charity, As an Individual
The initial proposal for the Canada student service grant was led and drafted by me and the team of strategists at WE.
NDP
Peter Julian NDP New Westminster—Burnaby, BC
Would it be fair to say.... If you're saying that the call with Ms. Chagger didn't actually involve the CSSG, who provided the information for drafting the submission of April 21?
Former Staff Member, Government and Stakeholder Relations, WE Charity, As an Individual
Following the conversation that Craig Kielburger and Rachel Wernick had on, I believe.... They had a conversation, and following that conversation, Craig Kielburger called me and provided me with very broad program parameters and guidelines on some of the questions and ideas he had received directly from Rachel Wernick. They were looking for advice and guidance as to how to implement a program of such a scale. Given the current pandemic, it was very challenging to understand how they could implement it potentially well.
NDP
Peter Julian NDP New Westminster—Burnaby, BC
So you drafted that. It was sent to whom, on April 21, in the federal government?
Former Staff Member, Government and Stakeholder Relations, WE Charity, As an Individual
That proposal was shared with various government departments.
NDP
Peter Julian NDP New Westminster—Burnaby, BC
Do you recall exactly which ones, or did you just send it in to one person and they shared it with other ministry officials?
Former Staff Member, Government and Stakeholder Relations, WE Charity, As an Individual
We definitely would have shared it, as public record has shown, with Minister Ng, Minister Chagger's office and ESDC, as part of this whole conversation, as well as with the Ministry of Finance.
NDP
Peter Julian NDP New Westminster—Burnaby, BC
Would you be aware, as the head of government relations, of all the times that Craig and Marc Kielburger spoke with federal government officials and ministers? Was this compiled somewhere within WE? Was that tracked?
Former Staff Member, Government and Stakeholder Relations, WE Charity, As an Individual
What I would be aware of is any conversations and meetings that Craig and I would have led at any point in time. If the co-founders or any executive had any additional meetings, I wouldn't necessarily be abreast of that information, but eventually, with the way we would worked at WE, we would communicate effectively the latest and greatest information and activities that had been led by WE.
Liberal
NDP
Peter Julian NDP New Westminster—Burnaby, BC
Thank you very much, Ms. Marquez.
My final question is for Ms. Al-Waheidi and Mr. Baker. Just to follow up on two points you made earlier, who gave you the green light for funding to start the process—you haven't answered that question yet—and when did you register WE in the lobbyist registry?
Executive Director, WE Charity
In terms of the registration for the Lobbying Act, we did that. It was submitted today. That was done.
Again, I just want to say that if we had thought that was necessary before, we would have done it. It would have occurred. I wanted to share that from a context perspective.
NDP
Chief Operations Officer, WE Charity
In all honestly, we never felt we had a full green light until we had an agreement signed. However, we understood that to deliver a program launched in mid-June would require us to build that program in the months of May and June. We undertook those efforts. When the contribution agreement was signed, which is very standard, we did that.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Wayne Easter
Okay. We will have to leave it there and go to Mr. Poilievre, who will be followed by Ms. Dzerowicz. We're into five-minute rounds.
Mr. Poilievre.
Conservative
Pierre Poilievre Conservative Carleton, ON
What was the total amount that WE paid for Ms. Sophie Grégoire Trudeau's accommodations and other expenses in London this year?
Executive Director, WE Charity
It is my understanding that this information will be provided as part of the undertaking by Marc and Craig Kielburger.
Conservative
Pierre Poilievre Conservative Carleton, ON
Did anyone in your organization have communication with Ms. Sophie Grégoire Trudeau after March 15?
Executive Director, WE Charity
To the best of my knowledge, no one has had communication.