St. Albert MP Michael Cooper says the resignation of federal Finance Minister Bill Morneau is further proof that the current Liberal government is in chaos.
On Monday, Morneau announced he would be stepping down both from his cabinet role and as Member of Parliament for Toronto Centre. His announcement came after he met with Prime Minister Justin Trudeau earlier in the day.
"The Prime Minister threw Bill Morneau under the bus in an effort to save himself from his own corruption," Cooper said. "But what Bill Morneau is guilty of (is) exactly what the Prime Minister is guilty of – namely, benefiting from the WE organization, and then rewarding the organization with millions of taxpayers' dollars."
Morneau's resignation comes in the midst of an investigation by Ethics Commissioner Mario Dion into the government's decision to award a $43.53-million contract to administer a $900-million student grant program to the WE Charity. Both Morneau's and Trudeau's families have connections to the charity.
"This is at a time when Canadians are focused on their personal finances, their health – when the Canadian economy is going through a difficult period, and when the budget deficit is seven times higher than the previous record, and we have the resignation of the highest ranking minister in the government – the minister responsible for the economy," Cooper said.
This is the third time Trudeau has been investigated by the Ethics Commissioner. On two previous occasions, he was found guilty of violating ethics rules.
Cooper said he believes nothing will change until Trudeau and the Liberal government are removed from power.
On Tuesday, deputy prime minister Chrystia Freeland was sworn-in as Canada's new finance minister. Freeland is the first woman to serve in that role. She will retain her position as deputy prime minister, but her other portfolio as intergovernmental affairs minister will be handed off to Dominic LeBlanc.
The WE Charity scandal has been ongoing for many weeks now since news of the contract broke in July. The contract hadn't gone through a competitive process and came under fire when ties surfaced between the charity and Trudeau's family. Some of Trudeau's family members had been paid for speaking at WE events, and Trudeau failed to recuse himself from the discussions and decisions around the contract.
On July 22, when the House of Commons finance committee questioned Morneau, it was revealed that the WE Charity paid $41,000 for Morneau and his family to travel to Ecuador and Kenya in 2017 for humanitarian work for the organization. Morneau said he hadn't realized he had failed to repay WE for that trip.
