The talented Ms. Emmanuelle Latraverse is not any journalist in Canada. She is a high-calibre journalist who worked for RDI (or Radio-Canada International). She has covered the Parliament of Canada. She was also the host of “Les Coulisses du pouvoir” (2011-2017). She was also the lead reporter for the French CBC Newscasts (“Téléjournal”) with Ms. Céline Galipeau.
Below is a quick translation of her powerful article, which was published on Sunday July 27, 2020, in the Journal de Montréal and entitled: “When will we see real inquiries on WE Charity”? [“À quand de vraies enquêtes sur WE Charity?”].
https://www.journaldemontreal.com/opinions/emmanuelle-latraverse
“In the We Charity case, each week brings its share of apologies, each more grotesque than the next [Bambi’s will add here that we learned yesterday from the media the following: (1) Despite being allocated $900 Million, the WE program was going to offer $500 Million in grants and (2) Our government already paid WE Charity $30-million; (3) “The professional code of conduct for teachers varies around the country, but in many places it appears the proposed $12,000 payments would violated the code”, as per today’s article, co-signed by Brian Platt & Christopher Nardi, in National Post: https://nationalpost.com/news/canada/we-charitys-plan-to-pay-teachers-to-recruit-students-for-grant-program-posed-ethical-dilemma-for-some/wcm/e1963854-0d00-4b98-81ed-c803b20c7f39/amp/?__twitter_impression=true].
There were those of Justin Trudeau and Bill Morneau for forgetting that the Conflict of Interest Act applies to them too. Then the finance minister’s surreal act of contrition for forgetting to reimburse $41,000 for travel expenses.
Beyond the spectre of cronyism worthy of the sponsorship scandal surrounding this matter, it is for the flippancy and negligence in the administration of public funds that the entire Trudeau government should apologize.
Rounded corners…
We understand today that WE Charity is not a charity like any other.
Transfers of funds to sister company ME to WE, a large pool of real estate in Toronto, all ensuring a comfortable income for brothers Craig and Marc Kielburger.
Already, governance doubts have prompted many of the most generous donors to step down in recent days.
Bye bye the millions of Telus, Virgin and many others [Royal Bank of Canada today, Bambi adds].
But these important questions about the governance of WE, it seems that no one has asked them in government. Neither officials nor cabinet members, according to the Clerk of the Privy Council.
Yet the Canada Revenue Agency should have questions about WE Charity‘s financial tricks. Will it, in turn, open an investigation?
And what about the allegations that WE Charity has passed the data on its participants in the Liberal Party.
Imagine the rest…
Moral of the story, once again the pandemic has a broad back.
The government has turned corners on the pretext of helping students, giving WE Charity a big boost in the detour.
But the question arises: how many other pandemic programs have been launched and administered so carelessly?
That the government has chosen to impose few controls to save families from bankruptcy under the Canada Emergency Benefit is one thing.
But we must not forget that, in total, 315 billion of public funds were spent in a few months.
How many other party friends have had privileged access to the government’s billions?
How many other contracts have been so neglected?
Faced with the daily revelations in this matter, it’s hard not to fear that WE Charity is just the tip of the iceberg.”
