Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said he had no any how much his family was paid by the WE charity when he approved it for a nearly billion project..Testifying from Rideau Cottage to a Senate inquiry on the WE scandal, Trudeau said he didn’t even realize the charity was in the running until he was told by “extremely professional” public affairs officials..Trudeau testified he hoped to give the youth grant to the Canada Service Corps volunteer group but public service officials said they couldn’t do it and a third party was needed..He said he didn’t hear about WE involvement until May 8, only hours before cabinet met to discuss the program..Trudeau said because of his family connection to WE, the decision to give it the grant would be “closely scrutinized.”.Trudeau decided to pull the decision on May 8..He said public officials later told him the WE group was the only group that was able to deliver the program so it was approved at the May 22 cabinet meeting..Throwing the civil service under the bus was a reoccurring theme of Trudeau’s testimony..Trudeau said WE “received no preferential treatment..“I deeply regret how this has unfolded.”.In April, Trudeau announced a new program called the Canada Student Service Grant that promised to pay to students who volunteer over the summer..Management of what was called $900-million program was outsourced to WE Charity. WE Charity would be paid up to $43 million to run the program..After controversy erupted, the WE organization withdrew from the program..Charity co-founder Craig Kielburger told MPs on Tuesday the amount of money involved was only $543 million. The charity has already received roughly $30 million of that but says it will repay the amount in full. They added the charity would be out $5 million they had already spent on the program..The brothers denied they stood to personally benefit from the deal..And they admitted they only hired the prime minister’s mother to speak on mental health when Justin Trudeau came to power..It has emerged Margaret Trudeau spoke at approximately 28 WE events and received honoraria amounting to $312,000. Alexandre spoke at eight events and received approximately $32,000, while Sophie Gregoire Trudeau had more than $1,400 in expenses paid for.. Margaret had also been paid $167,944 in expenses..The PM testified Thursday he didn’t know the Kielburgers other than to to see them at the WE events he attended..Under questioning by Tory MP Pierre Poilievre, Trudeau couldn’t provide figures on exactly how much his family made from WE nor the expenses paid to his wife for a trip to London a month before the final decision was made..Trudeau said he didn’t even know what hotel in London his wife was staying in..Poilievre told Trudeau: “Nobody believes you. You had a month to look into this.”.The meeting then degenerated into farce when the power went out for committee chair Wayne Easter..That saw Poilievre saying he was now in charge of the hearing as the deputy chair..He kept asking Trudeau how much his family his family made and the PM repeatedly refused to answer..Liberal MPs then tried to shut down the meeting before Easter got his power back and order was restored..Trudeau also said he had no idea WE fired their board chair and laid off hundreds of staff before they received the grant.. Defying crackdown, hundreds march against lockdowns in Calgary .Ethics Commissioner Mario Dion has announced that his office is investigating..Alberta’s UCP government has severed ties with the charity as has several businesses including Telus and Virgin Airlines.Just last week, Finance Minister Bill Morneau paid back $41,000 to WE for an exotic family holidays to Kenya and Ecuador..Dave Naylor is the News Editor of the Western Standard.dnaylor@westernstandardonline.com.Twitter.com/nobby7694
