The prime minister Justin Trudeau.
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11 July 2020 11h32
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The scandal in the united STATES comes at a bad time for the conservatives
Stephanie Levitz
The Canadian Press
OTTAWA — The controversy of ethics surrounding the links of the family Trudeau’s group of STATES comes at a bad time for the conservatives, the ones who are approaching the last straight of the race in the direction of their party.
The federal commissioner for conflict of interest and ethics Mario Dion is conducting an investigation to determine whether Justin Trudeau has broken the law on conflict of interest in awarding a contract worth several million dollars to the united STATES, which in the past had paid a fee to the mother and the brother of the prime minister for participation in events of the group.
On Friday, conservative mps have announced that the party would not seek to take advantage of the scandal to try to topple the government in a minority position in the House of commons.
It must be said that the current chief, Andrew Scheer, will occupy this post until the end of the month of August.
Members will be able to vote in the coming weeks to select his replacement. The name of the winner will be announced at the end of the month of August.
The liberals are trying to defend themselves by claiming that the decision to award the contract to manage the Scholarship program, canadian volunteer student $ 900 million had been taken by the public service that they qualify as “non-partisan”.
Before the controversy, STATES and the government have finally abandoned the contract.
How the successor of Mr. Scheer does it address this issue? The canadian Press has asked the question to the four candidates.
According to one of the two race favorites, Peter MacKay, the controversy raises questions about the need to expand and strengthen the power of the commissioner of conflict of interest and ethics. If a politician has broken the law on conflict of interest, it could actually be really punished.
It also suggests a better examination of the ethics for whoever becomes prime minister to ensure that there is no interference between his private life and his public role.
The candidate condemns the decision of Mr. Trudeau not to be challenged when the council of ministers has reviewed the award of the contract to UNITED, despite the links between members of his family and the organization.
“It is essential to maintain the confidence of the population towards public office holders, he says. His behaviour undermines this confidence.”
Mr. MacKay should play it safe. His wife, Nazanin Afshin Jam, an activist of human rights, has already delivered keynote speeches at event of united STATES. According to the organization of Mr. MacKay, it has not been paid by the organization.
The former government minister Harper said that a vote of confidence is not a simple question. “We can’t lose sight of the whole situation, namely the economic crisis and health that is still raging because of the COVID-19,” he argued.
His main opponent Erin O’toole suggests that the controversy increased the possibility of triggering a general election in the fall.
When we asked her if Mr. O’toole would seek to overthrow the government, a spokesman has not responded directly to the question, simply saying that the threat of an election in the fall would be more cumbersome because of the scandal.
Mr. O’toole argues, the demand of his party for a police investigation. In an email, the spokesperson of his organization, Melanie Paradise, says that, sitting already in the House of commons, would be ready to confront Mr. Trudeau about it from the first day.
“As chief, Erin will defend the Canadian and will go to the bottom of this story of corruption”, she said. The organization has not clarified how it would proceed.
The children of O’toole have also attended events organized by STATES. Himself gave a speech in his constituency. The organization says that his family has never benefited financially from united STATES.
Leslyn Lewis is said to have confidence in the commissioner Dion, who, according to her, has been able in the past to examine the problems of ethics, including those who report to prime minister Trudeau.
“The problem is that every time the commissioner Dion proves that Mr. Trudeau violated the rules, he shrugs and continues, says the lawyer of Toronto. The only way to hold Justin Trudeau leader is to reject it in the elections. I look forward to leading the charge and replace it by a government that is honest and ethical.”
As the member of parliament Derek Sloan, his organization did not respond to two interview requests from The canadian Press.
