Morneau broke ethics law three times: ethics commissioner
OTTAWA – Former Finance Minister Bill Morneau broke federal ethics law three times over his and his office’s involvement with WE Charity, notably due to his “friendship” with one of the organization’s co-founders, the Ethics Commissioner has ruled.
In the much-anticipated report, Ethics Commissioner Mario Dion criticizes Morneau for failing to recuse himself from cabinet’s decision to outsource a $900-million student volunteer grant program to the organization, for allowing his staff to “disproportionately assist” WE because of his ties to co-founder Craig Kielburger and for ultimately “improperly furthering” WE’s private interests.
In a statement, Morneau reiterated his regret for not having recused himself during his government’s decision to sign the deal with WE Charity last spring all the while insisting that the decision to choose the organization was made by the public service. He does not address the commissioner’s finding that he was friends with Craig Kielburger.
“When the government designed the Canada Student Service Grant, our goal was to help students gain meaningful work experience during one of the greatest economic challenges of our lifetimes. As the report confirms, the decision to have WE Charity administer the program was entirely based on the advice of the public service,” reads the statement.
At the beginning of his report, which was published alongside a similar exonerating Prime Minister Justin Trudeau of any conflict of interest in the same affair, Dion explains that he decided to broaden his office’s definition of a friend “to capture relationships where personal and professional interactions become intertwined to such an extent that it becomes difficult to draw the line between the two.”
In doing so, he concluded that Morneau had a friendship with one of the Kielburger brothers.
With that in mind, Dion found that Morneau violated three sections of the Conflict of Interest Act because he should not have been involved in any of the government’s decisions that could possibly benefit the Torontobased organization, whether during the outsourcing of the $900-million Canada Student Service Grant (CSSG) to WE or any other previous proposal or funding request from the Kielburgers’ organization.
“The friendship between Mr. Morneau and Mr. Kielburger, co-founder of WE, created a potential conflict for Mr. Morneau when called upon to make a decision that would further WE’s private interests. Thus, any decision made by Mr. Morneau that provided an opportunity to further WE’s private interests was made improperly,” Dion writes.
When it comes to the CSSG deal, the Kielburgers were undoubtedly set to benefit heavily from the deal, Dion concludes.
“There is no doubt that Mr. Kielburger’s interests would have been furthered had WE administered the CSSG. WE was the lone administrator of the CSSG and would have acquired a significant financial interest for its role,” the commissioner writes, adding that the Kielburgers’ “involvement in WE’s day-to-day operations is so prevalent that the organization’s interests are also those of its co-founders’.”
But Dion also notes that Morneau was never directly involved in the public service’s decision to recommend WE as administrator of the CSSG, that he did not provide any instruction regarding an earlier program proposal by the organization, and that neither he nor his family benefitted personally from the government’s dealings with WE.
He also confirmed that he cleared Morneau of any ethics breach for failing to disclose that WE Charity had covered $41,000 worth of trip expenses for his family in 2017 because the former minister “genuinely believed” he had paid for the travel at the time.
Dion based his decision to say Morneau and Kielburger were friends on a series of seemingly familiar interactions between the two in the years leading up to 2020, including the trips to Africa for Morneau’s family.
For example, Kielburger wrote an email to Morneau and his wife Nancy McCain in 2017 to say that he and his spouse were expecting a baby, noting in passing that Morneau and McCain were “among the first to know” and broadly thanking “many wonderful friends and family” for sharing parenting advice.
Morneau and his wife also hosted Craig Kielburger and his family in both 2018 and 2019, notably for Sunday brunch. Dion also reveals that McCain made two $50,000 donations to WE around the same time.
In the report, Morneau is quoted as saying that Kielburger is a “friendly acquaintance,” whereas Kielburger testified that their relationship remained purely professional and that they did not consider Morneau or McCain as friends. But Dion didn’t buy it.
“The evidence makes clear that Mr. Morneau and Mr. Kielburger were more than passing professional acquaintances or simply members of the same broad social circle. Several email exchanges denote a particular kinship and affection between Mr. Kielburger and the Morneaus,” Dion writes.
Also at issue for Dion is also how Morneau and his staff handled earlier proposals and funding requests from the organization, particularly a “Social Entrepreneurship” program proposal sent by Craig Kielburger directly to the finance minister in April 2020.
Dion found that Morneau’s staff pushed hard within government for the proposal to be approved, though it ended up being shut down as the CSSG deal was developed and went forward.
Dion also finds that the way certain of Morneau’s staff interacted with WE employees was also very informal during the discussions about the Social Entrepreneurship program.
“The documentation highlighted dozens of exchanges between ministerial staff in Mr. Morneau’s office and representatives of WE. The tone of the communications was informal and friendly. The interlocutors regularly communicated on a first-name basis and used colloquialisms such as ‘Hey girl’ or ‘Hey friend’ in their conversations,” the report reads.
Ultimately though, Morneau never personally directed or instructed anyone in government with regards to either the CSSG or the Social Entrepreneurship proposal, Dion writes.