Looks like Trudeau's covid distraction will no longer protect his long history of scandals, fraud, thievery and corruption
Trudeau strains to contain political scandal engulfing his family
Moving forward, Trudeau and Morneau may have to deal with more problems.
Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau | Adrian Wyld/The Canadian Press via AP
Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau | Adrian Wyld/The Canadian Press via AP Photo
By ANDY BLATCHFORD
07/24/2020 05:00 AM EDT
OTTAWA — Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, in the midst of the Covid-19 pandemic, is embroiled in another controversy of his own making that’s inflicting political damage on him and his administration.
The Canadian leader is struggling to contain the rapid spread of a firestorm sparked by his plan to award a sole-source contract to a powerful charity and fueled by revelations that members of his family have been paid hundreds of thousands of dollars in speaking fees by the organization over the past half decade. The dustup also threatens to cost Trudeau his trusted finance minister.
Trudeau’s trouble began building momentum a few weeks ago after his government announced the deal to pay WE Charity up to C$43 million to administer a C$912-million student grant program as part of Canada’s Covid-19 response. The group works on international development projects and classroom programs, mostly in the U.S. and Canada, that teach youth about civic engagement.
The public and parliamentary reaction in Canada to the news and further revelations of speaking fees and travel expenses paid to family members of Trudeau and Finance Minister Bill Morneau has been swift and harsh.
Polls suggest the still-emerging controversy around WE Charity has already chewed away at Trudeau’s approval ratings, which saw a lift after the start of the pandemic. Rivals have demanded Morneau’s resignation and the fallout risks nudging opponents closer to defeating Trudeau’s minority Liberal government, triggering another election. Canada's ethics commissioner has launched investigations into Trudeau and Morneau.
Trudeau has shown he can survive scandals, including images of him wearing brownface 20 years ago that surfaced during last year's election campaign. The ethics commissioner found last year that Trudeau broke conflict-of-interest law after the prime minister and his staff repeatedly urged his former attorney general to reach a plea-bargain deal with the SNC-Lavalin engineering firm, which faced corruption charges.
Trudeau also weathered blowback from a 2018 trip to India when he had to rescind a dinner invitation he’d issued to a Sikh extremist who had been accused of attempting to murder an Indian politician.
In late 2018, the ethics commissioner also concluded Trudeau violated violated ethics law over two all-expenses-paid family trips at the Aga Khan's residence in the Bahamas.
