Ottawa fodder: what is your utility to Justin Trudeau?
Liberal daggers for Chagger. Morneau finds his standpatters. Corporate scatter. Pettiness and diversionary matters.
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It seems that the Liberals are starting to come around to who is worth saving and who is dispensable in the latest ethics scandal to rock the Trudeau government.
Liberal MP Julie Dzerowicz prompted the embattled Finance Minister to turn the knife on one of his junior cabinet colleagues: Bardish Chagger.
“Can you just make it clear for the committee that it was the responsibility of Minister Chagger to actually sign the final contract and it wasn’t with yourself or the finance department?” Dzerowicz asked.
“Your assertion is correct,” Morneau said.
As usual, Brian Lilley has the details.
Chagger, readers will recall, was the first senior political member of the government to address committee questions regarding the emerging WE scandal that is gripping the nation’s capital.
At the time, Chagger placed blame on assistant deputy minister Rachel Wernick and said that the bureaucrat made the recommendation to go with WE to deliver the $912 million student volunteerism program.
Trudeau later relied on using the ‘non-partisan public service’ as a shield in Question Period to answer questions relating to his knowledge, enthusiasm, and extent of his involvement in the affair.
Now that the Liberals have upped the stakes by offering up Chagger, will this be enough to protect Morneau and Trudeau from future fallout?
Corporations make their distance from WE
The Globe and Mail reports that both Telus and Virgin Atlantic Airlines are ending their relationships with WE. Telus had been a founding sponsor of WE days since 2007 and Virgin Atlantic had collected more than $10 million for the charity in-flight from flight attendants and passengers.
The Globe goes on to list two others re-assessing their relationships with WE. RBC and the Queen’s Commonwealth Trust are showing concern but are awaiting more information.
Hours after the scandal broke, WE scrubbed its corporate sponsors and media sponsors from the internet in a likely move to shield donors from scrutiny.
So then this caught my attention at the end of the Globe article:
The Globe and Mail has a sponsorship partnership with WE Charity. The agreement expires on Aug. 31 and will not be renewed.
Petty politics
Is this third major breach of ethics weighing on the Prime Minister?
Canada is losing its top General, as Canada’s commander of the armed forces quits.
Matthew Fisher reports that General Vance was the international favourite to become the top military advisor to NATO’s secretary general, but failed to get Trudeau’s support.
Meanwhile, Trudeau’s nominee for Governor General is becoming a useful Ottawa distraction for a Liberal government under fire.
Old reports have resurfaced about Julie Payette’s treatment of staff resulting in PCO initiating a probe on workplace harassment.
Sun scrawler Joe Warmington believes it’s a smear campaign which just adds more chatter for those discussing a pattern about who is useful in official Ottawa for protecting the Prime Minister.