LILLEY: Trudeaus were paid big to appear at WE Day events

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s mother and brother were paid more than $350,000 to appear at WE Day events run by the same charity that his government attempted to give a sole-sourced $912 million contract to just weeks ago.

Remarkably, Trudeau continues to see no conflict of interest in this contract or in his involvement in awarding it.

As the old saying goes, don’t pee on my leg and tell me it’s raining. The relationship between the Trudeaus and this organization is more than cozy.

The news broke Thursday afternoon when WE released information showing the PM’s mother, Margaret Trudeau, had been paid $332,000 while his brother, Alexandre, had been paid $40,000 to appear at various WE Day events. The story was first reported by Canadaland, which obtained the receipts, but WE later confirmed the totals to the Sun.

Margaret appeared at 28 events between 2016 and 2020. She most recently appeared at a WE Day event in London, England alongside the PM’s wife Sophie Gregoire Trudeau on March 4, 2020. That was the event where Sophie is said to have contracted COVID-19.

Alexandre, meanwhile, saw his speaking engagements limited to eight events during the 2017-18 academic year.

According to WE the pair pocketed $250,000 and $32,000 respectively after commission fees were paid to their agency, Speakers Spotlight.

Who paid Speaker’s Spotlight? The WE affiliated private company ME to WE.

“As you know, “WE Day” is an event of WE Charity,” said the PR team at WE Charity.

 “Over the years, WE Day corporate partners have sponsored, via speaker bureaus, speakers to participate at the event. One of the corporate sponsors has been ME to WE Social Enterprises.”

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Toronto Sun