Canada's Conservative opposition called for a police investigation on Friday into whether Prime Minister Justin Trudeau had awarded a contract to a charity that paid money to family members .
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" There are enough grounds for the police to investigate this matter, " said Michael Barrett, ethics critic for the Conservative Party. " We have a nearly billion dollar contract that was awarded without a tender by the Prime Minister, " said Michael Barrett during a press briefing in Ottawa. " And we know there are significant financial benefits that have been touched by the Prime Minister's family ," he said.
The Prime Minister's mother Margaret Trudeau received $ 250,000 (160,000 euros) for speeches at 28 events organized by the WE Charity association between 2016 and 2020, according to the CBC public broadcaster. Justin Trudeau's brother Alexandre received about $ 32,000 for his participation in eight events.
Prime Minister's wife " received $ 1,500 "
CTV also revealed that the Prime Minister's wife Sophie had " received $ 1,500 " for an event in 2012, before Justin Trudeau became leader of the Liberal Party. The Conflict of Interest and Ethics Commissioner, an independent officer of Parliament, launched an investigation last week into the Prime Minister in connection with the contract to manage a $ 900 million student bursary program Canadian (587 million euros).
However, the Conservative Party considers this investigation insufficient, given new revelations about the sums paid to the Trudeau family before the contract was awarded. " It's much more serious " than a " conflict of interest, " said Pierre Poilievre, Conservative finance spokesperson, asking federal police to investigate whether there has been " fraud against the government." "
WE Charity (UNIS, in French) announced last Friday its withdrawal from the scholarship program, citing the " controversy " surrounding the contract. The Ethics Commissioner has twice concluded that the Prime Minister broke the conflict of interest law: in 2017 for accepting a vacation on the private island of Aga Khan, and last year for trying to influence legal proceedings in the SNC-Lavalin case.