WE Charity scandal
The WE Charity scandal was a Canadian political scandal regarding the awarding of a federal contract to WE Charity to administer the $912 million Canada Student Summer Grant program (CSSG). Ethics Commissioner Mario Dion found that former Finance minister Bill Morneau had breached the "Conflict of Interest Act" by failing to recuse himself from the decision despite a close relationship the charity's founders. Dion cleared Prime Minister Justin Trudeau of wrongdoing. 

The controversy arose when it was revealed that charity had previously paid close family of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to appear at its events, despite making claims to the contrary. WE Charity also used pictures of Trudeau's family members as celebrity endorsements in their application. Trudeau asserted that WE Charity had been uniquely capable of administering the program as "the only possible option", and that it was the civil service, not him, who decided that WE Charity was the best option.

WE Charity was allowed, as is the case in sole-source contracts, to revise its submissions for the program. Other organizations however, such as the Public Service Alliance of Canada and YMCA Canada, expressed skepticism at the claim that WE Charity was the only organization in Canada capable of administering the contract. Evidence discovered by parliamentary committees investigating the scandal suggested a significant degree of preferential treatment given to WE Charity by the civil service, as, while WE Charity was allowed to repeatedly revise its proposals for the program, no call for proposals was ever issued, nor were any received from any other organization. Reports also indicated that this was further amplified by pressure from Morneau to make the selection.
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