WE Charity | Trudeau’s testimony was sought by the Conservatives

The Canadian Press

In a letter to House of Commons Ethics Committee chairman Chris Werkentin on Sunday, Rodriguez said one of Prime Minister Trudeau’s senior advisers had been ordered not to appear before the committee – and that he would replace him.

In his letter to the parliamentary leader, he confirmed that the employees were not elected members of the House and therefore would not benefit from “single rights and powers”.

He argued that calling political personnel “contrary to the long-standing principle of ministerial responsibility”.

Policy Director Rick Thes told the Prime Minister not to attend.

Rodriguez said he would attend the committee meeting “on behalf of the government”.

Actually a conservative move

The letter sparked tensions between opposition parties and the Liberals over a resolution put forward by the Conservatives in the House of Commons last week, and MPs agreed that senior officials in Mr Trudeau’s office should testify before the Justice Committee.

Former Defense Minister Harjeet Sajjan has called on the Chief of Staff to appear before the Defense Committee to shed light on how the Liberals handled allegations of sexual misconduct against the former UN commander. Jonathan Vance, General of the Canadian Armed Forces.

Rodriguez said Friday that the Liberals would ignore the resolution, accusing the Conservatives of trying to intimidate political staff, adding that ministers would ultimately be responsible for those who worked for them.

The motion, which was approved with the support of opposition parties, said Mr Trudeau’s staff could ignore his request to attend if the prime minister was present.

Trudeau was called to testify

A few hours before Mr Rodriguez sent his letter, MPs Pierre Poilivre and Michael Barrett called on Prime Minister Trudeau to attend.

“If Trudeau’s employees can’t testify, he can,” Poyleivre told a meeting in Parliament Hill.

MM. Poylevre and Barrett did not say what action the opposition parties would take if the Liberals ignored the resolution and instead framed the issue as a matter of respecting the will of Parliament.

The resolution, which was passed by a majority of MPs in parliament, was specifically named after Mr. Trudeau and his staff.

“She made no mention of the leader of the House anywhere,” he said. The Liberals have been using the excuse that ministers must testify before a committee for more than a week. The main players in the Trudeau WE scandal are working for the Prime Minister rather than the Leader of the House. ”

Although the Premiers usually do not testify before committees, Justin Trudeau appeared before the Finance Committee in July to answer questions about his government’s decision last year to direct the WE Charity to run a charity event. Multi-million dollar student.

The agency later pulled out of the $ 543 million deal when questions arose about the prime minister’s close ties with family members. The Canada Student Volunteer Grant program was eventually canceled altogether.

Messages raise doubts

The Liberals and WE Charity co-founders Craig and Mark Keelberger insisted that impartial government employees came up with the idea of ​​handing over the funding program to a Toronto-based company.

Following Mr. Trudeau’s testimony, thousands of emails and other documents released by the government in August proved that the exchange had been carried out by Conservatives and Liberals.

In particular, we found a message from Craig Kielberger in which he thanked his younger brother, Ben Chin, one of Mr. Trudeau’s senior advisers, for helping him design the student scholarship program.

Craig Kielberger told the Justice Committee two weeks ago that Mr. Chin was not directly involved and that the message was one of dozens of aides sent when Mr. Kielberger asked him to expand his network. LinkedIn. Ben Chin was one of the people the Conservatives wanted to hear from the committee.