"By the time Kovrig and Spavor were abducted on December 20 2018, the Chinese Communist Party had grown accustomed to getting its way in Canada, and after Justin Trudeau's election victory in 2015, Chinese diplomats were crowing about the coming 'golden decade' in Canada-China relations." "Trudeau was trumpeting his hopes for a free trade deal with China."
Terry Glavin, Journalist, National Post
"Over the past two years, two Canadians, Michael Kovrig and Michael Spavor, have been detained arbitrarily by China, and Canada has done absolutely everything necessary to try and get them home safe."
"We have seen allies in every corner of this planet speak up in the defence, not just of the Canadians [imprisoned and charged with espionage]. but in the fundamental rule of law that protects us all around this world."
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau
"They are both very healthy, physically and mentally. I am deeply inspired by their resilience and mind-set. It's incredible given everything they have gone through."
"I know the Michaels are literally on the other side of the wall, but you talk through a big television screen."
"We are obviously very frustrated at not being able to get access. We tried to demonstrate how, in Canada, we still allowed people to get access when they have people in detention."
Dominic Barton, Canadian Ambassador to Beijing
"Frankly speaking, the government's policy on China is unintelligible. If we have trouble figuring it out then how on Earth is China or anyone else, including our allies, supposed to figure it out?"
"We need a new policy toward China that protects Canadian interests and defends our values from being undermine d by authoritarian states like China."
Conservative Member of Parliament, foreign affairs critic Michael Chong
Illustration: Henry Wong
Meng Wanzhou, the chief financial officer of Huawei the Chinese telecommunications giant is wanted by the U.S. Justice Department's Eastern District of New York on 13 counts including bank fraud, wire fraud and conspiracy counts including conspiracy to launder money, violate U.S. sanctions on Iran and defraud the U.S. and obstruct justice. Huawei Technologies Co. Ltd., is one of Xi Jinping's 'national champion' conglomerates, implicated in the nation's domestic surveillance system, and global intellectual property theft.
When Ms.Meng was taken into custody to await court hearings in Vancouver on whether to transfer her to the U.S., and the two Canadians were arrested on trumped-up charges and three others placed on death row for charges of drug smuggling, former Liberal Prime Minister Jean Chretien, who has made an industry of courting Chinese business ties with Canada and aiding Chinese investments in Canada, instructed the current Liberal government to release Ms.Meng and mend frayed ties with China, overlooking its inconvenient hostage diplomacy and human rights abuses.
This, despite China's penchant for making demands on companies linking supply chains to the Chinese economy for technology transfers and forced joint ventures. China has always engaged in massive industrial espionage campaigns and the use of "wolf warrior diplomacy"; the use of of pressure tactics, outright threats and economic coersion advantaging China's strategic aims.
Beijing's dedication to advancing its own economy through intellectual property theft, counterfeit, and digital piracy represent the current reality of its relations with other countries. When the SARS-CoV-2 virus causing COVID erupted, Beijing relayed incorrectly misleading data to the outsi8de world through the WHO as the coronavirus began invading the globe. Presenting China with yet another opportunity to monopolize the industry of vital protective medical clothing as almost the sole producer of personal protective equipment.
None of this stopped the Trudeau government from partnering with a Chinese pharmaceutical company, CanSino, to deliver a COVID vaccine to Canada. CanSino had been flagged by Canada's intelligence agency CSIS as a national security risk for years, but this was of little interest to the Trudeau government. CanSino was permitted to extract Canadian vaccine research for a platform for its COVID vaccine then refused to ship samples for testing as agreed, to the Canadian Research Council.
Canada was agreeable to all manner of Chinese investments in Canadian corporations. When Beijing offered to fund Confucius Institutes in Canadian institutes of higher learning, it was thought to be a bonus, where Canadian students could study Chinese culture and philosophy, and even learn Mandarin financed by the Chinese Communist Party, an obvious-enough propaganda tool, posing as an education bonus: to Canada, from China, with love.
University curriculi had to proceed with caution lest the thousands of mainland Chinese students studying at Canadian universities be offended should China be described as a non-democratic nation practising human rights abuses in Tibet and among Chinese Uighurs. Universities grew dependent on their financial gains through heightened foreign student fees and wary of cutting off Chinese largesse. Chinese-Canadians who supported Hong Kong were increasingly threatened by foreign arms of the Chinese Communist Party in Canada.
The Liberal government of Canada, enthused over free trade with China, refused to acknowledge that there is no 'free' element accruing to any country other than China in mutual deals, free or otherwise, with the Beijing government which views itself as the vehicle for realizing China's ultimate destiny to rule the world of commerce, international influence, and politics through its hegemonic plans for the near future, while making other nations indebted to it, through loans and infrastructure building and communications links.
The world is watching as China hardens its foreign policy stance Getty Images
"There is no question that the U.S. extradition request has put
Canada in a difficult position. As prime minister, you face a difficult
decision. Complying with the U.S. request has greatly antagonized
China," "Removing the pressures of the extradition proceeding and the
related imprisonment of the two Michaels will clear the way for Canada
to freely decide and declare its position on all aspects of the
Canada-China relationship." "The two Michaels [Kovrig and Spavor; former diplomat and entrepreneur respectively] were taken in direct retaliation for the arrest
in Canada of Meng Wanzhou. We believe that the two Michaels will remain
in their Chinese prison cells until Meng is free to return to China." June 23 letter to Prime Minister Trudeau, 19 signatories, former government ministers, diplomats
Meng Wanzhou, chief financial officer, Chinese telecom giant Huawei
"I would like to stress once again that things between China and Canada have come to this stage not because of China." "The Canadian side is well aware of the crux of the problem. It should take immediate and effective measures to correct the mistakes and crate conditions for bilateral relations to return to the right track." Zhao Lijian, Chinese foreign ministry spokesman
"Minister Champagne again reiterated that the cases of Michael Kovrig and Michael Spavor remain a top priority for the government of Canada and that Canada continues to call on China to immediately release both men."Foreign Affairs Canada spokesperson
The stalemate continues. The espionage charges and imprisonment of two innocent Canadians who happened to be in the wrong place at the right time for them to be kidnapped by Chinese authorities under guise of Chinese law protecting the country from the malign influence of foreigners engaged in espionage with the intention of doing harm to China. Beijing, of course, denied time and again that the two Canadians were spirited away and imprisoned on trumped-up charges in retaliatory action against Canadian law that respected a U.S.-Canada extradition agreement when Canada was asked by the U.S. to extradite Huawei's CFO to stand trial in the U.S. on charges of fraud.
Death sentences were judicially applied to four other Canadian citizens who had been charged with drug trafficking. Chinese authorities placed a hold on its long-time importation of Canadian canola products and pork unsettling Canada's agricultural industry by cutting off export to one of the country's largest importers of Canadian grain and livestock products. All the while, the government of Canada while asking its allies to exert pressure on China for the release of the two Canadians, went about business as usual with China.
At a time of an impending global pandemic crisis, Canada sent PPE equipment to China to aid its COVID-19 emergency, then found itself entirely without that critical personal protection equipment for Canada's embattled health professionals once the SARS-CoV-2 virus made its speedy way into Canada. Then Canada signed off on a contract with Chinese pharmaceutical companies to co-test a promising coronavirus vaccine, the Chinese company in direct tandem relationship with the Chinese military.
Contracts were signed with Chinese companies for technical equipment for Canada's embassies and consulates abroad, as though Beijing wouldn't dream of using such equipment as a cyber-entry to Canada's diplomatic, trade and intelligence communities. And despite that Canada, as a member of the "Five Eyes" group of the U.S., New Zealand, the United Kingdom, and Australia, sharing intelligence, remains the only one among the five not having yet decided to exclude Huawei Technologies from its 5G network upgrade.
Former Prime Minister Jean Chretien along with other former high-echelon parliamentarians, plumps for tighter trade relations with China, having led a number of trade delegations to China when he was prime minister, to pave the way for his private post-government plans to curry favour with Beijing, and bring high profit margins to corporations doing business with his post-government employment in a prestigious law firm, is in favour of capitulating to Beijing's demands.
Rather galling, at the very time when Beijing has chosen to surrender its pretense of rule-of-law in conjunction with international standards, admitting finally that the capture and incarceration of the two Michaels was a retaliatory act. Typically, the Peoples' Republic of China political elite speak to other countries in paternalistic chiding statements behind which lie hard threats of dangerous times ahead when other countries fail to give China its due; other nations are always invited to 'correct their mistakes' to restore China's confidence in them. The 'right track' achieved to Beijing's satisfaction.
The most recent request by Canada through its foreign affairs minister, Francois-Philippe Champagne to release the two Michaels and to commit to clemency for the four Canadians sentenced to death elicited the response making it clear that all these pressure tactics are directly related to the intention by the government of Canada to honour its international agreements, in this case an extradition request by the U.S. Beijing has slammed the door on expectations it might miraculously honour international norms in diplomacy, insisting anew that the release of Meng will automatically ensure the release of the Michaels.
A woman holds an anti-CCP sign outside of Huawei chief
financial officer Meng Wanzhou’s hearing at the BC Supreme Court in
Vancouver, British Columbia on Monday, May 27, 2020. (Ben Nelms/CBC)
"Justin
Trudeau is walking out on Canadians in the middle of a major health and
economic crisis, in a disgusting attempt to make Canadians forget about
his
corruption."
"At a time when Canadians are looking for stability and leadership.
Justin Trudeau has given them corruption, chaos, and cover-ups."Conservative leader Andrew Scheer
"Shutting
down Parliament in the middle of a pandemic and an economic crisis,
with a planned sitting next week and committees working hard to get
answers and solutions for Canadians is wrong."
"[Canadians] shouldn't be forced to
pay the price for Mr. Trudeau's scandals." "If the Liberal
government continues to focus on helping their close friends instead of
helping people, if they continue to be caught up in fighting themselves
instead of helping families that are worried about their future, then
we'll have to look at all options."Leader of the NDP, Jagmeet Singh
"It's
time to get some grown-ups in Ottawa. The post-COVID debt hangover is
reason enough to clear Trudeau's economically inept crew out of Ottawa
as soon as possible. And given Trudeau's alleged WE malfeasance, his
government's spending spree must be audited and some of its more
erroneous pieces of legislation, which will only serve to sabotage
Canada's economy by halting resource development, must be rescinded.
Finally, a giant broom must sweep all the green radicals,
anti-capitalists and Trudeau fanboys and fangirls out of Ottawa."Diane
Francis, journalist, editor-at-large, author, Distinguished Professor,
Ted Rogers School of Management, Ryerson University, Toronto
Canada
has a prime minister who believes in a post-national society. He sees
himself as a progressive and states so frequently, invested in improving
the lives of Canada's middle class, even as he is himself a member of
the entitled elite class of Canadians, as was his Minister of Finance
with whom the prime minister has just sundered ties. Up until two days
ago, Bill Morneau was Justin Trudeau's choice to head the finance
ministry. And then came the WE scandal where both men distinguished
themselves by failing to recuse when a cabinet vote took place giving WE
Charity close to a billion dollars to disburse financial rewards up to
$5,000 to university students doing volunteer work.
The charity
happens to be one with a close and cozy association with both men and
their families, where Justin Trudeau's mother and brother were paid for
speaking engagements at WE events, to a total of $300,000, and Mr.
Morneau's daughter has contract employment with the charity. A charity
whose board of directors had decamped over murky financial transactions,
a charity which had laid off hundreds of employees, a charity which
habitually honoured wealthy prospective supporters with paid trips
abroad to visit at some of their charitable worksites.
Co-founders Craig (left) and Marc Kielburger introduce Prime
Minister Justin Trudeau and his wife Sophie Gregoire-Trudeau as they
appear at the WE Day celebrations in Ottawa, Tuesday November 10, 2015. (Adrian Wyld/The Canadian Press)
But
this was only the most recent of the scandals enveloping Canada's prime
minister who had been found involved in harassment of of women despite
his boasting of being a 'feminist', who had indulged in Blackface
hijinks, who had initiated an unfounded investigation into Vice-Admiral
Norman, second in command of the Canadian military, accusing him of
releasing secret documents to the media, who had accepted a family
vacation on the private island resort of the Aga Khan, known to lobby
for government support of projects in Canada, who had attempted to
suborn the Attorney General's decision for a court trial against SNC
Lavalin.
A current investigation into the WE Charity scandal by
the Parliamentary Ethics Commissioner represents the third such
investigation into Justin Trudeau's ethical lapses, the previous of
which he had been found guilty of ethics violations, and the second for Bill Morneau, who had
been found guilty of the first. It was, ostensibly, Bill Morneau's
family trips to Kenya and Ecuador in 2017, which he only recalled in
July of 2020 he owed the charity $41,000 for that embarrassed the prime
minister, though he felt his family receiving payment from the charity
for services rendered was quite acceptable.
Justin Trudeau, House
finance committee (Sean Kilpatrick/The Canadian Press)
In
the end, Morneau announced his resignation as Minister of Finance,
hinting disagreements over fiscal matters caused a rift between himself
and the prime minister, which it likely did, but speculation abounds
that the real rift was occasioned by the WE Charity all-expenses-paid
trips benefiting the Morneau family which just happens to be the
wealthiest family ever to have held public office in Canada, that caused
Trudeau unease, spurring him to ask for the resignation. The outrageous
thing is that if Morneau is guilty of poor ethical judgement, his boss
Trudeau is even guiltier, and if Morneau paid for his indiscretion with
the loss of political stature, Trudeau most certainly has done so in
excess and should leave office.
Chrystia Freeland, sworn in as finance minister by Clerk of the Privy Council at Rideau Hall. Sean Kilpatrick/The Canadian Press
Instead
Justin Trudeau has appointed Chrystia Freeland, his recently-appointed
vice-prime minister to take Mr. Morneau's place as Minister of Finance. A
former journalist, Ms. Freeland has no experience in economics. And it
was at this juncture that the Prime Minister decided he would prorogue
parliament. A parliament that he has already, in essence prorogued,
having decided despite the objections of other parliamentarians, to shut
down for the past six months, in preference to remote sessions over
Zoom.
With the prorogation, all government business comes to an
end. Translating to three parliamentary committees, all looking into the
perceived and real malfeasance on the part of Justin Trudeau in
deciding that WE Charity was the only group capable of administering the
$912 million Student Summer Jobs program, of which the charity would
have kept $64 million, a project that did not go to tender and was, Mr.
Trudeau continued to argue, the choice of the civil service, not
himself.
"What
can I say? We wee all sad. But we didn't have time to mourn him,
because we were so busy surviving ... We were told right away, 'You're
next!'." "They had guards watching us all the time,
keeping us awake on purpose, just to break us down physically and
mentally."
"The weaker we become, the more they laugh. They think it's funny like
hell." "John [Ridsdel] and me ... we became like soulmates. We were
thinking about -- planning is not the right word -- maybe dreaming, what
we were going to do when we got out of there."
Kjartan Sekkingstad, Norwegian, permanent resident of Canada
"His
[Abu Sayyaf terror suspect Anduljihad Susukan] giving himself up to Mr.
Misuari [Muslim rebel leader Nur Misuari] is not the surrender
contemplated under the law and does not make him immune from arrest." Maj.Gen.Edgard Arevalo Philippine military commander
Abduljihad Susukan, linked to the beheadings of hostages including two
Canadians in the Philippines, surrendered on Friday, officials say. (Davos City Police)
Like
the Islamic State's propensity to publicize the atrocities they
committed on their victims by video taping sophisticated theatricals of
horror leading up to the beheading of the 'infidels' they captured, the
Abu Sayyaf terrorist group, aligned with ISIL in the Philippines took
the same apparent pleasure in terrorizing, tormenting and ultimately
beheading those they took prisoner for ransom. In September of 2015, two
Canadians along with a Norwegian with Canadian connections and a
Filipino woman were abducted from a marina operated by the Norwegian in
Davao.
Canadians Robert Hall, centre, and John Ridsdel, right, were taken hostage by Filipino militants in 2015. (Site Intelligence)
The
terror group demanded a hefty ransom for the lives of John Ridsdel of
Calgary along with fellow Canadian Robert Hall. It wasn't the first time
Canadians were captured as they went about their business. There was a
precedent to the Philippines' event, when Robert Fowler, a Canadian
diplomat on assignment with the United Nations and his colleague Louis
Guay
were captured by al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM) in
2008, held hostage in the Sahara Desert for 130 days. On their release,
facilitated by the Conservative government of Prime Minister Stephen
Harper, Mr. Fowler stated: "I owe a debt to Mr. Harper ..."
He also made a statement regarding the Liberal Party of Canada in March of 2010: "I
believe the Liberal party has, to a significant extent, lost its way,
at least in policy terms, and of course I mean, in particular, my area
of foreign policy terms, and is in danger of losing its soul...To this
observer, it seems that Liberals today don't stand for much in the way
of principles...I have the impression that they will endorse anything
and everything which might return them to power and nothing which won't,
whatever the merits of either. It's all about getting to power, and it
shows...I believe Liberals seem prepared to embrace an infinite array of
special interests in order to shill for votes rather than forging a
broad-based principled alliance founded in deep Liberal traditions, one
with a distinct social contract and an independent Canadian character,
which would protect, project and defend core Liberal values at home and
abroad..."
This was before the Liberals were
returned to power in 2015, but it was a statement recognizing the
Liberal hunger for power, determined to reassert their entitled place in
Canada as the perpetual governing party. Robert Hall, 66 and John
Ridsdel, 68, were out of luck when Prime Minister Justin Trudeau took
Stephen Harper's place. For he announced that Canada would not sully
itself by negotiating with terrorists, paying ransom to release two
Canadians. That 2010 statement was prescient; five years later, the
government of Canada stood firm on 'principles' and left two Canadians
to die horribly.
Spavor, Kovrig, U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo.Manuel Balce REUTERS
In
2020 there is another episode with another two Canadians, this time
abducted by the Chinese Communist Party, charged with a nebulous,
evidence-lacking crime of 'espionage' against China: one, business man,
Michael Spavor, the other a diplomat-on-leave, Michael Kovrig, both left
to fend for themselves, trapped by circumstances whereby the CFO of
Chinese technology giant Huawei being held in British Columbia on an
extradition warrant issued by the United States has made them vulnerable
to Chinese-style prisoner-chess. And there they languish, imprisoned,
since December 2018, awaiting rescue from their nightmare, while the
Liberal government continues to play footsie with Beijing.
The
three men, Ridsdel, Hall and Sekkingstad, along with Hall's companion
Marites Flor were abducted in Septmeber 2014 from the Davao Holiday
Oceanview Marina on Samal Island. Ridsdell was executed in April, and
Robert Hall was beheaded in June, but before that happened the
terrorists teased him, telling him he was heading back to Canada. Then
they placed handcuffs on him, allowed him to hug Flor, and led him to
the place where the decapitation took place.
Susukan had been
involved in a conflict with another Islamist group where he sustained a
wound, losing an arm. He surrendered to the rebel leader Nur Misuari of
the Moro National Liberation Front which signed a tentative peace
agreement with the government back in the mid-1990s. Misuari then flew
to Davao with Susukan where he was handed over to the government of
President Rodrigo Duterte to face justice for the murder of the two
Canadian men and stand trial in kidnappings and executions on the island
of Borneo.
Another Abu Sayyaf terrorist implicated in the murder
of Robert Hall and John Ridsdel has yet to be brought to justice. As
another Abu Sayyaf commander involved in the deaths of the two
Canadians, Moammar Askai had died in a battle on the island of Bohoi,
killed by Philippines troops. Eventually after the two Canadians were
executed Flor was given her freedom in June of 2015. A few months later,
Kjartan Sekkingstad was also released; Norway had secured his freedom.
Philippine
police escort funeral parlour employees carrying the body of one of two
suspected Abu Sayyaf militants killed by authorities during a failed
kidnapping in Bohol, central Philippines, May 2017. AP
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau (The Canadian Press/Sean Kilpatrick)
"I
knew there would be perception issues around this [family ties to a
charity his government chose to distribute a $912-million student
disbursement for volunteerism to]."
"At
the same time, delivering a grant program to students who volunteer
across the country has absolutely nothing to do with any work my brother
or mother did with WE [WE Charity], and that's why there was no
conflict of interest."
"We [Cabinet] pulled the item from the agenda so that we could be doing the right thing, the way."
"I wanted to push back and really make sure that everyone could say
without a shadow of a doubt that this was…the way to deliver the program
recommended by our outstanding and professional public servants."
"As
Mr. Morneau [Finance Minister] himself highlighted, he apologized and
he should not have accepted the elements of that, that were gifts."
"The idea that someone on their personal vacation would choose to
support a good cause or get involved in helping make the world a better
place is not something that we should reject or turn away from."
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau
"Multiple ministers and senior officials have testified at the finance committee."
"Not
one of them said that the prime minister pulled the WE proposal from
the May 8 cabinet meeting and sent it back for further scrutiny."
Conservative Leader Andrew Scheer
The
Parliamentary finance committee in conducting their investigation into
the highly unusual situation whereby a sole-sourced contract for a
proposed Canada Student Service Grant was granted to a
charity that happened to be supported and hugely favoured by the prime
minister, his family, the minister of finance and his family, had
invited quite a few individuals to appear before them in friendly
question-and-answer settings (through remote video connection).
Among others, a number of senior civil servants. From whom came the
information that the connection between the Trudeau family and the WE
Charity was widely known among them.
That, in
fact, this specific charity and none other, catering to youth, inspiring
youth to reach out and give aid to other youth in the international
community much less fortunate, as well as speaking out against child
labour and investing in educational opportunities for children living in
abject poverty in developing countries, would be hugely favoured as a
result, to be named the beneficiary of a lucrative contract. This was
important because the prime minister insisted repeatedly that it was not
he who arranged for the contract to be sole-sourced to WE Charity, but
the civil service, and he was completely ignorant of their choice.
Until
he no longer was, when he was finally apprised of his most favoured
charity for which he had himself attended well publicized, popular and
crowd-thick inspirational meetings, speaking to the adoring throngs of
youth, taken with the message of dedicated volunteerism. Dedicated
volunteerism is what the public witnessed when they listened to an
enthusiastic Margaret Trudeau speak on numerous occasions to spellbound
WE Charity supporters. As did her son, Alexandre, Justin Trudeau's
younger brother.
However, they did so to the
tune of remuneration totalling a third of a million dollars, where
Margaret Trudeau herself banked $250,000 for her 28 inspiring speeches.
The prime minister's wife, Sophie Gregoire Trudeau, was another enthused
volunteer and spokesperson for the charity. The finance minister's two
daughters were also heavily involved with WE Charity, one a contract
employee, the other a speaker. This is a charity that has, besides its
charitable purpose, a for-profit arm, a real estate arm, a tourism arm,
and an associated contract-signing arm separate from the charity itself,
but signing for it.
WE Charity excels in
extending invitations to wealthy donors for all-expense-paid trips to
some of its overseas ventures. Mr. Morneau and his family accepted two
such trips in 2017, one to Ecuador, the other to Kenya. By all accounts
quite wonderful trips to see the good work of the charity in action, and
to stay at luxury accommodation in a truly unique environment for a
feel-good purpose. Mr. Morneau is a multi-millionaire. The trips his
family took were estimated to the value of $93,000. Mr. Morneau
suddenly recalled, on the eve he was to appear before the finance
committee, that he 'owed' WE Charity $41,000 in connection with those
trips, and he speedily wrote a cheque, albeit 3 years after the events.
When
he responded to questions at the finance committee investigation, Mr.
Trudeau gave what he considered to be perfectly valid, explicable
responses; among the most salient that his 'talented' family generously
gave of their time, and that the connection between their being paid by
this charity and the charity being chosen for a prestigious,
high-profile vote-getting program was completely above-board. Nothing to
see here, folks move on, because the prime minister insists there was
nothing unethical; the cause unassailable, everyone involved
well-meaning.
There are other Parliamentary
enquiries into this situation in the offing. The Parliamentary Ethics
Commissioner has committed to investigating Justin Trudeau and Bill
Morneau, both for the third time, for ethics violations. On the two
previous occasions, both men were found to have gone afoul of
Parliamentary ethics. The entire situation is nothing more, nothing
less, than business-as-usual for this Liberal government. A finance
minister handling Canada's finances and handing out tens of billions of
treasury for Liberal government COVID-19-related support to business and
the unemployed and students, who cannot keep abreast of his own
personal finances.
A prime minister who feels
entitled to believe that anything he decides would be in the best
interests of the country should go unquestioned, and to that end
manipulated a situation whereby a second-tier opposition party agreed to
support a motion to suspend Parliament for the duration of the
SARS-CoV-2 pandemic roiling the world, until such time as a vaccine is
discovered and widely available. Setting the stage for this prime
minister to govern like a true autocrat whose decisions cannot be
questioned. Had Parliament been fully restored, opposition parties would
have been able to intervene in this situation.
The
fact that the charity was in deep financial trouble would have been
noted and questioned. Its real estate holdings, unusual in size and
breadth for a charity would have been noted and questioned. Its default
on its banking obligations would have been noted and questioned. Its
firing of 400 employees would have been noted and questioned; after all,
how could such an ambitious program such as the student grants be
administered short-handed? Most telling of all, the resignation of the
chair of the WE Charity board of directors would have been noted and
questioned.
Former WE Charity Board Chair, Michelle Douglas 'testifying'
That
most other members of the board chose to leave along with the chair
should certainly have been a flapping red flag. Michelle Douglas too
appeared before the finance committee to respond to questions put to
her. She described feeling uneasy and puzzled that upon request and even
after pressing, she and the board were unable to obtain copies of WE
Charity finances. She was troubled by the precipitate firing of 400
employees which she felt to be completely inappropriate and unnecessary.
When, in a telephone conversation with the Kielburgers she insisted on
seeing financial records, the line went dead.
Subsequently she was requested to hand in her resignation. “It was our view that you don’t fire
hundreds of people without very strong demonstrable evidence, and even
then should explore mitigation measures to save jobs", she explained to the
committee. "Instead, the executive team were dismissing employees with great speed and in large numbers." As for payment to speakers, she and the board had been led to believe that all speakers did so voluntarily. "The WE Charity board always understood that speakers were not
paid by the charity or the related organizations to speak at WE Day. The
board made direct inquiries on this issue."
Co-founders of WE Craig (left) and Marc Kielburger (right) are seen on
stage during WE Day California in Inglewood, California, U.S. April 25,
2019. The brothers spent four hours in front of a committee of MPs today
answering questions about their role in the federal government's
student grant program. (Mario Anzuoni/Reuters)
Marc
and Craig Keilburger, co-founders of WE Charity and all its stunningly
complicated arms initiated work on administering the controversial
Student Volunteer Grant program well before it had been approved to
proceed by Cabinet. They had, they explained, been advised by
departmental officials that they could feel free to incur expenses
related to the disbursement program prior to to being informed the
agreement had been formally awarded to WE Charity. Their haste, they
explained, had nothing whatever to do with anticipating the $43-million
profit that would come their way; they were assiduous in starting for
the simple reason that delay would harm the program.
The idea was to get as many university students unable to find summer jobs during the COVID
pandemic involved as soon possible, to enable them to have the
financial wherewithal to pay for their forthcoming tuition when the
university year commenced. And so, they overlooked the possibility that
the agreement would not come through and they stood a chance of
forfeiting any expenditures on their part, for the greater good of the
country, because this is what they're all about; making the world a
better place.
"That
was a decision that they took because they knew how important it was to
get this program going and they assumed certain risks in going forward
and starting to spend on a program that hadn't yet been approved by
cabinet and would not be approved for another few weeks", explained Mr. Trudeau, in their defence and his own. Ungenerously, the leader of the opposition, Mr. Scheer, responded "Why
was WE so sure that they were going to be approved? Why were they told
they could start charging expenses before the program was even
approved?"
As for
Justin Trudeau's forgiving attitude over Bill Morneau's ill-advised
acceptance of an all-expense-paid trip hosted by a charity he and his
family have generously supported, it's hardly surprising. Given that
Justin Trudeau and his family were pleased to accept just such a trip
whose invitation was extended by the Aga Khan for them to enjoy
Christmas at his private island in the Bahamas. Justin Trudeau
innocently described the trip as a gift from a family friend, and
couldn't see what the fuss was all about. That was the first time that
the Ethics Commissioner issued a rebuke for trangressing Parliamentary
ethics when he was found to have violated sections 5, 11, 12 and 21 of the Conflict of Interest Act.
Minister of Finance Bill Morneau rises in the House of Commons to
deliver a fiscal snapshot as Prime Minister Justin Trudeau looks on,
Wednesday, July 8, 2020 in Ottawa. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Adrian Wyld
"The
WE Charity board always understood that speakers were not paid by the
charity or the related organization to speak at WE Days. The board made
direct inquiries on this issue."
"I
don't know the precise nature of what they were paid for, but if it was
exclusively to speak on the WE Day stage, that would have surprised
me."
"I
did not resign as a routine member or as part of a planned board
transition. I resigned because I could not do my job, I could not
discharge my governance duties."
"Those reports [financial reports] were not shared with the board, despite our requests."
"It
was our view that you cannot fire hundreds of people without very
strong, demonstrable evidence, and even then should explore mitigation
measures to save jobs. Instead the executive team were dismissing
employees with great speed and in large numbers."
"It was clear that there was a breakdown in trust between the funders and me as the board chair."
"I
demanded that the executive team produce those [financial] records. The
call was abruptly concluded. I resigned because I could not do my job. I
could not discharge my governance duties."
Michelle Douglas former Board of Directors WE Charity
"This
has been something that may destroy 25 years of work to build a
national charity in this country, partially because of mistakes that we
made, we acknowledge and we apologize. But frankly, significantly
because of inaccurate and false information is circulated to the
advantage of various groups."
"It
is incredibly unfortunate that in the past 25 days we have seen the
integrity of an organization the service by thousands of teachers across
this country, and the work of students who have volunteered called into
question."
Craig Kielburger, co-founder, WE Charity
Marc and Craig Keilburger, WE Charity cofounders
Finally,
the Canadian House of Commons federal finance committee, looking into
the issues that have erupted in the past few weeks over a sole-sourced
contract valued at close to a billion dollars given to acknowledged
personal friends of the prime minister, have heard directly from the two
Kielburger brothers, Marc and Craig, their version of events as they
unfolded. Basically the two brothers informed parliamentarians
questioning them during a four-hour session that the scandal resulted
from "misrepresentations" by the media, by critics and politician.
The
"labyrinthian" corporate structure of the WE Charity was explained as
innocently ill advised; that their for-profit group and their charitable
group were interconnected with one raising funds and dispersing it to
the other. What is more inexplicable are the other arms, one specific to
real estate property ownership and management, another, a shell company
whose purpose was ostensibly to protect the assets of the others, but
which was the signee for the government's Canada Student Service Grant
to WE Charity Foundation that would have given them a $48-billion
payment for services rendered.
Audited
financial statements indicate that the charity has paid ME to WE over
$11 million since 2009, in cash, much of it representing the purchase
of promotional items or travel and leadership training services. ME to
WE claims to have donated $21.4 million to its charitable arm in 11
years representing scarcely five percent of WE Charity's total revenue
since 2009; of that sum, $8.6 million represented "in-kind"
contributions; not money but items like "donated
ME to WE Trips hosting donors an dyouth on scholarship; donated
printing of educational materials, donations of ME to WE Artisans from
women in Kenya". Leaving one to exhale a huge: WOT?!
There
is, in addition to the finance committee investigation, two other
parliamentary investigations opened into this very peculiar and
revealingly unethical event where it has been seen that both the prime
minister and the finance minister who both signed off on the contract to
WE when they should have recused themselves in recognition of their
deep and personal connections to the charity, has occasioned the
Parliamentary Ethics Commissioner to launch an enquiry on these suspect
connections as well, for each man, the third such ethical breach for
both.
WE co-founders Craig Kielburger, left, and Marc Kielburger,
right, introduce Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and his wife, Sophie
Grégoire Trudeau, at WE Day celebrations in Ottawa in 2015. Trudeau and
Morneau both have faced criticism for not disclosing their ties to the
organization and not recusing themselves when a government contract was
awarded to WE. (Adrian Wyld/The Canadian Press)
The
WE Charity has paid for speeches given at their events by the wife of
the prime minister, the prime minister's mother Margaret Trudeau, and
the brother of the prime minister, to a total of $300,000. On the part
of the Finance Minister, Bill Morneau, one daughter has spoken at WE
events, another works for the charity and in 2017 the Morneau family
accepted travel invitations by WE Charity to Kenya and Ecuador. Mr.
Morneau only recalled not having paid back $41,000 for his family's
travel and accommodation last week, when he appeared before the finance
committee investigation.
The former chair of WE
Charity's board of directors also testified before the committee, to
the effect that the board was informed quite explicitly that speakers at
youth events connected to WE Charity volunteered their time, and did
not receive honorariums. Margaret Trudeau, Justin Trudeau's mother alone
received $250,000 for 28 speaking engagements between 2016 and 2020.
While brother Alexandre was paid $32,000 for eight events at which he
spoke. As a Member of Parliament, not yet leader of the Liberal Party
Justin Trudeau himself undertook speaking engagements at various
charities for hefty speaking fees.
WE
Charity's executive, in response to the March lockdown for the global
pandemic went into panic mode over the financial impacts of COVID-19,
laying off staff in large numbers, to the final tally of 400 personnel.
In their defence, the brothers testified that they had paid Margaret
Trudeau not for speaking, but for hosting after-parties, attending
receptions and holding autograph sessions on the day of the speeches.
Jaw-dropping inanity as an explanation, yet put forward as an
explanation countering the 'misinformation' that has been so ruinous to
their 25-year work in establishing their WE Charity as a Canadian
institution of noble enterprise.
Where the brothers explain that their organization, while complex, and eliciting condemnatory comments from critics
,their intention all along was to "be of service", sounding suspiciously like Justin Trudeau's constant reminders to his own critics that he "means well".
Accounting for the financial links between the profit side and
non-profit side of the enterprise in the two separate groups, things do
not add up reassuringly, taking into account the amounts received by WE
Charity to enable it to pursue its overseas charitable work, leaving
vast sums in possession of the for-profit group which then goes on to
acquire real estate, a preoccupation inconsistent with charitable
enterprises.
The group chose to default on
several of the property mortgages held by banks, not because they were
unable to raise the money to honour their bank debts, but because the
choice was made to retain the funding internally and put off paying the
mortgages. "It
is certainly slightly unconventional that they would choose to have
these revolving debt facilities when they have enough in other
securities and assets to simply not be in debt. Of course there's
nothing wrong with structuring your finances this way, but it is more
typical of a private corporation than a charity", advises one accounting expert.
Which
raises the question: when is a charity not a charity? The chair of the
WE Charity board of directors made an effort to straighten out these
confused events and to establish the answer to that question to her
satisfaction. Her enquiries and demands for information ended with a
receiver on the other end of the telephone terminating the conversation,
following which she was asked to submit her resignation.
"This
is one of the few polls that I just looked at -- and I've been doing
this for 30 years, so I did polling around the Oka Crisis -- I was
astonished when I saw some of these numbers, but I'm not surprised." "People
are truly frustrated with the inability of their leadership to come
together and recognize that human beings are being affected by their
decisions and that they're not simply voters." John Wright, pollster, DART
"A lot of the blame has been centred on the prime minister and the Liberal government." "There
was some form of void. The government left the impression -- at least
many people came to the conclusion -- that there was no one really in
charge of the situation [of rail blockades]." Daniel Beland, director, McGill Institute for the Study of Canada
"Canada is not broken. Canada's institutions are broken." "In 1867 [year of Confederation], the concern was to protect Canada against democracy, not to protect regional interests." "Until we have an institution that can speak on behalf of the regions, we are going to have a problem." Donald Savoie, Canada Research Chair, Public Administration and Governance, University of Moncton
A nation united? Appears not; more accurately, a nation acutely
polarized. The West -- blessed by natural resources which resulted in
wealth, has enabled, through tax transfers via the federal government to
dole out 'equalization' payments to the 'have-not' provinces to ensure
that all Canadians regardless of where they live are equally endowed in
social services -- has been left by the central government in Ottawa to
flounder. Its resource sector, the source of much of Canada's wealth,
has been hit by the Liberal government's commitment to its
environmentalist backers.
Demonstrators in London blocked several intersections as they made their way toward RCMP offices on Dufferin Avenue. (Sofia Rodriguez)
A government which has done all it possibly can to place roadblocks in
the way of investment and development of petroleum resources, causing
tens of thousands of job losses, and the firesale of Canadian energy at
steeply reduced rates exported abroad, for lack of pipeline delivery
stymied time and again through legislation and the courts doing the
bidding of the Liberal government of Justin Trudeau. A prime minister
whose agenda is reconciliation with Canada's First Nations and meeting
environmentalists' demands of shutting down the conventional fossil fuel
energy sector.
Both coming together in a sudden and stunning shutdown of Canada's
national rail system, both freight and passenger, through sometimes
violent, and always illegal blockades launched by five Wet'suwet'en
ancestral chiefs, defying the agreement of 20 Wet'suwet'en elected
chiefs and the majority of the Wet'suwet'en who signed an agreement of
cooperation meant to result in employment and profit through the
operation of the northern B.C. Coastal GasLink project.
The transport of critical perishables, production parts, chemicals and
heating products across Canada has been halted. This, at a time when
Canada is preparing for a possible epidemic of COVID-19, the novel
coronavirus that has devastated China, and has emerged as an epidemic in
South Korea, Japan, Iran and Italy, and now infects people in over 50
countries globally, and growing. The poll results indicating that a
majority of Canadians now feel strongly that the country is not being
governed well, is indisputable.
While the country's prime minister was jetting abroad in Africa to drum
up support for his legacy project of having Canada elected to a two-year
stint on the United Nations Security Council, Aboriginal and
environmentalists' protests have virtually shut down cross-country
transit. Shipped goods have been piling up on docks awaiting transfer to
rail for distribution throughout the country. For two weeks and
counting the government urged patience and failed to see that the law
went into action to shut down the illegal and dangerous blockades of
rail across the nation.
Hundreds of Londoners joined an Indigenous-led demonstration in
solidarity with opponents to a pipeline in Wet'suwet'en territory in
northern B.C. The demonstrators marched toward RCMP offices in downtown
London to show their opposition to the arrests of protesters. (Sofia Rodriguez/CBC)
Now that Justin Trudeau has finally declared that Canada has waited long
enough for protest leaders to agree to discussing the issues with
government leaders, giving clearance to federal, provincial and
municipal police to act, and a few of the blockades have been shut down,
others spring up in their place, with 'activists' lighting tires on
fire on rail tracks, and setting up blockades that engines narrowly miss
hitting. Some activists have taken to standing on tracks, moving out of
the way at the last moment.
A full 62 percent of those polled feel Justin Trudeau's promise to
Canada's Indigenous people has failed on delivery. Two-thirds of
respondents are not averse to supporting one-time payments to Indigenous
Canadians for immediate acquisition of "food, clean water and housing" for the "necessities of life", which in actual fact, does go out regularly to Indian reserves throughout the country for those very purposes, and more.
What the agreement that the Wet'suwet'en elected chiefs signed with the
Coastal GasLink project would have done was provide dignity through
employment, and independence through the share of gasline profits. The
current situation has led to another project, in Alberta, for a giant
mine investment by Teck Resources, a Canadian firm prepared to invest
$20 billion and having reached similar sharing agreement with
Aboriginals, being cancelled in view of the ongoing roadblocks,
including a decision whether to approve the project expected in days
from the Trudeau government.
Over 80 percent of Canadians believe politicians have a greater care for
their partisan interests than to do the work they were elected for on
behalf of all Canadians. This feeling is supported at 90 percent in
Alberta. The federal government under Justin Trudeau and his Liberals
has alienated Canada's Western provinces, leaving the country worryingly
polarized and increasingly leaderless, while a small minority of
Canadian 'activists' and unwanted visitors from the U.S. work to shut
Canada down.
Protesters in support of the Wet'suwet'en hereditary chiefs stand near
the entrance to the blockade of the commuter rail line in Kahnawake
Mohawk Territory, near Montreal, Thursday, Feb. 27, 2020. THE CANADIAN
PRESS/Ryan Remiorz
This represents a general opinion site for its author. It also offers a space for the author to record her experiences and perceptions,both personal and public. This is rendered obvious by the content contained in the blog, but the space is here inviting me to write. And so I do.
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