Finance Committee on April 1st, 2021

[Jean-Michel Ryan]

Mr. Johns, well-established companies are already having difficulty surviving the pandemic. We can well imagine that young companies will have even more difficulty, since they do not have a credit history and a record of financial performance.

I would like to remind you that we are entering the third wave. I just saw that Ontario is going to be in lockdown for another month. Quebec is in lockdown again in some places and other provinces will probably do so as well. As I mentioned earlier, we keep reopening and closing our doors. Some businesses can get through it, while others are on the verge of closing. With the third wave, if the programs are not in place or are not flexible, there will definitely be another major wave of closures.

As mentioned, this is not just in Quebec. In Canada, one in 10 jobs is in tourism. The borders are not yet open. So—

[The Chair, Liberal, Wayne Easter]

We'll have to end it there.

[Jean-Michel Ryan]

Thank you.

[Gord Johns, NDP, Courtenay—Alberni, BC]

Thank you.

[The Chair, Liberal, Wayne Easter]

Mr. Falk and Mr. Fragiskatos will get to split about seven minutes.

Mr. Falk, go ahead.

[Ted Falk, Conservative, Provencher, MB]

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I will be turning my time over to Mr. Poilievre.

[The Chair, Liberal, Wayne Easter]

You have three minutes, Pierre.

[Pierre Poilievre, Conservative, Carleton, ON]

Ms. Morton, have you been in contact with WE Charity lawyers or lawyers paid by WE Charity since Mr. Kielburger's testimony in March?

[Victoria Morton]

I had about a five-minute call with one of them.

[Pierre Poilievre, Conservative, Carleton, ON]

Have they offered to provide you with legal assistance over at WE Charity, for your testimony?

[Victoria Morton]

They generically offered me support, which I didn't accept. I wanted my autonomy, and they respected that.

[Pierre Poilievre, Conservative, Carleton, ON]

You spoke to just one of their lawyers, once, since that testimony.

[Victoria Morton]

I've had a couple of conversations with various people within the organization. I don't know of their connection to WE or to anybody else.

[Pierre Poilievre, Conservative, Carleton, ON]

Right. I'm sorry, within which organization, then?

[Victoria Morton]

That information I'm not familiar with.

[Pierre Poilievre, Conservative, Carleton, ON]

Sorry, I'm a little lost. You said you were in contact with several people within that organization. I asked which organization, and now you're saying you're not familiar with whichever organization you were referring to. Can you clarify which organization?

[Victoria Morton]

I'm not sure what connection everybody has to the organization at this point. I don't know who is a lawyer of WE, who is a lawyer of Craig, who is a lawyer of.... This is a web I'm not familiar with.

[Pierre Poilievre, Conservative, Carleton, ON]

This web that you've been in contact with from WE, they're lawyers for Craig or Marc or WE; you just don't know which part of the web they work for.

[Victoria Morton]

I wouldn't have visibility to that.

[Pierre Poilievre, Conservative, Carleton, ON]

Okay, but it is a web, so when you say web, you mean people have called you from WE since he testified.

[Victoria Morton]

Yes. There's been the lawyer I had the conversation with.

[Pierre Poilievre, Conservative, Carleton, ON]

Have you been offered any other employment or contractual opportunities at WE since you left?

[Victoria Morton]

I have not.

[Pierre Poilievre, Conservative, Carleton, ON]

Thank you.

Do I have one last question left?

[The Chair, Liberal, Wayne Easter]

You can ask a very quick one.