The Kamloops-Thompson-Cariboo Member of Parliament is echoing words from the Conservative Finance Critic, Pierre Poilievre, calling on Finance Minister Bill Morneau to resign.
“It goes to show that this whole relationship between the current Liberal government and the WE organization is completely interconnected,” Cathy McLeod, told NL News. “Each day, as new revaluations come out, you think how much worse could it get? And then the next day something more comes out.”
McLeod also questions how Morneau did not realize that the WE organization covered $41,000 in travel expenses for two trips in 2017.
“I don’t know where the honour is anymore in terms of accountability and taking responsibility for your actions, but clearly when you’re in violation of such basic, fundamental, Conflict of Interest laws, you no longer have the moral authority to govern this country, and to be in the position [Morneau] is in.”
Both Bill Morneau and Prime Minister Justin Trudeau have personal ties to the WE organization, and they did not recuse themselves from cabinet discussions before awarding the WE Charity Foundation a $912-million contract to administer a student volunteering program earlier this year.
That decision was reversed when the ties with Trudeau were revealed.
“So far we have learned that Trudeau and his Finance Minister, Bill Morneau, approved a nearly $1-billion contribution to the real-estate holding-arm of a charity. That charity had paid Trudeau’s family over $300,000 in speaking fees and gave Morneau’s daughter a job,” noted McLeod.
Canada’s conflict of interest law prohibits ministers or their families from accepting paid travel. McLeod says Morneau only waited until the day he testified before he repaid the travel expenses.
“If [he] does not resign, it is another example of the complete lack of integrity within Trudeau’s Liberal Government,” she added.
The Opposition also wants the federal ethics watchdog to widen his probe of Bill Morneau regarding the WE organization. Poilievre adds the prime minister must also come clean about any other direct financial ties that he and his family may have had with the organization.
McLeod will be speaking on the NL Morning News on July 24 at 7:40 a.m.
