Trudeau to Testify Before Parliamentary Panel About Gov't. Contract to WE Charity Thursday

TORONTO (Sputnik) - Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is set to testify before a parliamentary committee on Thursday about his government's decision to award a sole-source contract to the WE Charity despite its close ties to the Trudeau family.

Trudeau will appear before the Standing Committee on Finance at 3:00 p.m. (7:00 p.m. GMT) with his chief of staff Katie Telford following at 4:15 p.m., the committee said in a notice of the meetings on Monday.

The scandal erupted after multiple investigative pieces exposed Trudeau’s and Finance Minister Bill Morneau’s close ties to the WE Charity and their government awarding the charity $670-million sole-source contract to administer a government-sponsored student volunteer program.

The scandal has prompted many to call on the prime minister and finance minister to resign, but the two officials have rejected resigning to date.

Both Trudeau and Morneau have apologized for not rescuing themselves from the decision-making process, but reiterated that the decision to award the contract was recommended by the public service.

Trudeau and Morneau are now subjects of a conflict of interest investigation by the Ethics Commissioner. The ethics probe is the third for both officials during their five years in office.