The federal government's top public servant says there is no evidence to suggest Prime Minister Justin Trudeau spoke with WE Charity before the organization was awarded a deal to run a student-volunteer program.
Privy Council Clerk Ian Shugart made the comment during testimony Tuesday morning before the House of Commons finance committee.
"There is absolutely no evidence, no suggestion in anything that I have reviewed that would suggest the prime minister had any interaction with the WE Charity in relation to this program," Shugart said.Trudeau is expected in the House of Commons this afternoon, with the opposition eager to press him further on how his cabinet reached the decision to approve the deal.
MPs want Trudeau to appear before the Commons committee, but it is unclear whether he will accept the invitation. "To deal with all these concerns, not having a job, the future, a pandemic, people need to have confidence in their government," Singh told a morning news conference. Federal officials were already talking about ways to help students unable to work this summer due to the COVID-19 pandemic, intending to announce something by mid-May. The notion WE could be involved came up in conversations between the Finance Department and Employment and Social Development Canada, which oversees student-related programs.
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