Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau shakes hands with Minister of Finance Bill Morneau during a ceremony at Rideau Hall in Ottawa. AFP
Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau shakes hands with Minister of Finance Bill Morneau during a ceremony at Rideau Hall in Ottawa. AFP

Justin Trudeau faces ethics questions after charity conflict of interest



Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is due to face the Parliament's finance committee after conflict of interest accusations involving coronavirus funds.

Mr Trudeau could be subjected to penalties over his ties with the WE Charity, which won a contract to run a C$900 million (Dh2.47 billion/$674.6m) programme to help students find work during the coronavirus outbreak.

Although a time and date has not been set for Mr Trudeau’s appearance, it is likely to be this week.

Canadian Finance Minister Bill Morneau is also involved in the scandal and apologised for accepting travel expenses paid for by the charity. Last week he said he had repaid C$41,366.

Mr Trudeau's brother and mother had already received speaking fees from WE, which also employs one of Mr Morneau's daughters.

The affair is hurting the popularity of the ruling Liberals, leading some to call for Mr Trudeau’s resignation.

Mr Morneau said he had written a cheque last week to cover the costs of expenses WE paid during private trips he and his family took to Kenya and Ecuador.

He said the matter was an oversight and insisting he had always intended to pay the full cost.

"Not doing so, even unknowingly, is not appropriate. I want to apologise for this error," Mr Morneau told the committee.

The main opposition Conservative Party expressed disbelief and called on him to resign.

"Do you expect us to believe that it is a mere coincidence that you repaid over C$41,000 on the same day you were expected to testify under oath about it?" Conservative legislator Pierre Poilievre asked.

Mr Trudeau and Mr Morneau have apologised for not recusing themselves during Cabinet discussions on the choice of WE to receive coronavirus funds.

The charity later walked away from the contract.

Mr Morneau, 57, is a multimillionaire who has been finance minister since November 2015.

He was fined by the ethics commissioner in 2017 for not declaring a French villa he owns.

The WE Charity, formerly known as Free the Children, was founded by brothers Craig and Marc Kielburger 25 years ago.

The latest scandal adds to the list of ethical issues Mr Trudeau has faced during his time in office, including riding in a helicopter belonging to the Aga Khan, whose organisation has benefited from millions of dollars in Canadian federal grants.

His government was also found to have pressured the country’s attorney general not to prosecute Canadian engineering giant SNC Lavalin for bribery.

Mr Trudeau has been criticised for wearing blackface on three different occasions, for which he later apologised.

"I shouldn't have done that. I should have known better and I didn't. I'm really sorry," he told Time Magazine after the photos emerged.

Moon Music

Artist: Coldplay

Label: Parlophone/Atlantic

Number of tracks: 10

Rating: 3/5

Test

Director: S Sashikanth

Cast: Nayanthara, Siddharth, Meera Jasmine, R Madhavan

Star rating: 2/5

The specs

Engine: Four electric motors, one at each wheel

Power: 579hp

Torque: 859Nm

Transmission: Single-speed automatic

Price: From Dh825,900

On sale: Now

The five pillars of Islam

1. Fasting 

2. Prayer 

3. Hajj 

4. Shahada 

5. Zakat 

COMPANY PROFILE
Name: Kumulus Water
 
Started: 2021
 
Founders: Iheb Triki and Mohamed Ali Abid
 
Based: Tunisia 
 
Sector: Water technology 
 
Number of staff: 22 
 
Investment raised: $4 million 
In numbers: PKK’s money network in Europe

Germany: PKK collectors typically bring in $18 million in cash a year – amount has trebled since 2010

Revolutionary tax: Investigators say about $2 million a year raised from ‘tax collection’ around Marseille

Extortion: Gunman convicted in 2023 of demanding $10,000 from Kurdish businessman in Stockholm

Drug trade: PKK income claimed by Turkish anti-drugs force in 2024 to be as high as $500 million a year

Denmark: PKK one of two terrorist groups along with Iranian separatists ASMLA to raise “two-digit million amounts”

Contributions: Hundreds of euros expected from typical Kurdish families and thousands from business owners

TV channel: Kurdish Roj TV accounts frozen and went bankrupt after Denmark fined it more than $1 million over PKK links in 2013 

Book%20Details
%3Cp%3E%3Cem%3EThree%20Centuries%20of%20Travel%20Writing%20by%20Muslim%20Women%3C%2Fem%3E%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EEditors%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3ESiobhan%20Lambert-Hurley%2C%20Daniel%20Majchrowicz%2C%20Sunil%20Sharma%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EPublisher%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3EIndiana%20University%20Press%3B%20532%20pages%3Cbr%3E%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
Skewed figures

In the village of Mevagissey in southwest England the housing stock has doubled in the last century while the number of residents is half the historic high. The village's Neighbourhood Development Plan states that 26% of homes are holiday retreats. Prices are high, averaging around £300,000, £50,000 more than the Cornish average of £250,000. The local average wage is £15,458.