Kielburger brothers to appear at ethics committee

Craig and Marc Kielburger are set to appear before a parliamentary committee later Monday as members of Parliament continue digging into WE Charity’s operations and a since-cancelled federal agreement to have it manage a student grant program.

The brothers' appearance had been in doubt after an extraordinary back and forth with MPs last week over their conditions for responding to the committee’s summons.

The Kielburgers are scheduled to appear for three hours, when MPs are expected to grill them over the Liberal government’s decision last year to have them manage a multimillion-dollar student-volunteer program.

The arrangement saw WE given a $543-million sole-sourced contract that would have paid it up to $43.5 million to run the program, which was designed to cover up to $5,000 in education costs for students who volunteered during the COVID-19 pandemic. The contract also stipulated the organization would not make money on the arrangement.

WE Charity pulled out of the deal, and the program was eventually cancelled, amid allegations of a conflict of interest due to close ties between WE and Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, former finance minister Bill Morneau and members of their families.

Ethics commissioner Mario Dion is investigating the involvement of Trudeau and Morneau, who resigned from politics last August, in choosing the organization for the task. Both have apologized for not recusing themselves from the decision.

Conservative ethics critic Michael Barrett said that despite months of scrutiny around the arrangement between the government and WE, "the genesis of it is still a bit unclear, and there's a lot of questions."

Committee members are also expected to question the Kielburgers over WE’s overall operations, which include a number of different organizations spanning numerous countries and involve both charitable and for-profit activities.

"We need to just get some clear answers about how they operate, and how they were able to basically walk into the heart of the Liberal government and get a deal that was worth $900 million," said NDP ethics critic Charlie Angus. "It should be pretty straightforward."

Angus has asked the RCMP and the Canada Revenue Agency to investigate the Toronto-based organization's operations. The Mounties have declined to say whether a probe is underway.

Before the Kielburgers agreed to appear before the committee, a lawyer for the WE co-founders had written to MPs suggesting police could draw on information gleaned in the meeting, even though it falls under parliamentary privilege.

This will be the second time the Kielburgers will appear before a parliamentary committee over the issue.

In testimony to the House of Commons finance committee in July 2020, the Kielburgers said they agreed to run the grant program to help Canadian students. They said if they'd known how things would have played out, they would not have agreed to do it.