'Nobody believes you': Poilievre grills Trudeau as he testifies over WE Charity controversy

yes or no question mr chair uh prime minister you twice were found guilty of breaking the ethics act after those two convictions did you decide to read the act you got 14 seconds prime minister um yes i have read the act a number of times are you aware of section 21 uh yes since i've read the act i'm aware of sections what does it say i can pull it up for you but if you have it in front of you you know well it says a public office holder of which you are one shall recuse himself or herself from any discussion to decision debate or vote in any matter in which uh uh in respect of which he or she would be in a conflict of interest now what you've admitted today is not just that you were in a conflict of interest but that you consciously recognized in your may cabinet meeting that such a conflict might exist that it didn't just slide by your desk that you were consciously aware that there was a an inappropriate link to your family that would put you in a conflict why did you at that moment not call the ethics commissioner and recuse yourself that is simply not true mr polyeff the issue of advancing uh issues for one's event by the way the ethics commissioner is looking into this right now and i fully trust his judgment on on determining it uh but at the same time my concern around recusing myself was a question around perceptions uh because i knew cool well that this canada summer students grant carter was not going to directly benefit uh my mother or my brother you're 16 seconds sir your 16 seconds are up i'm going to ask you again because nobody nobody believes you when you say you don't know how much money your family has got from the we group you've had a month to look into that you knew you were going to testify here again how much money total have your brother mother and spouse received from this organization how much that information has been publicly shared but i will highlight then tell me what it is uh my money how much has uh just the dollar figure throughout her life the dollar figure prime minister various ways and is how much of the work that she's done and i'm proud of how much i'm looking for a dollar figure we can get that number for you if you like it's been an out in the media it's been in the media but you don't know it i don't have it in front of me you don't know how much your family has received from this organization which you tried to give a half billion dollars really can i answer mr pauliev i'm waiting you haven't done an answer so far let's make this the first one my mother has worked as an advocate the dollar figure prime minister speaker uh for how many good organizations across the country mr prime minister at a uh the work my mother is doing because i have a point of order to suspend what she's doing um that the uh the chairperson's power has gone out and is no longer part of this meeting um uh may i propose that we're okay with that no i suspected that might be a problem it's very convenient timing for the lights to go out look i got a message to the effect that his power has gone out i have no reason to to distrust him i hope you don't pull the fire alarm now yeah well look there's no intent in my own private home here in the middle of a pandemic i don't have a fire alarm um the general the general process is that the vice chair assumes uh assumes the chairing of the meeting so we'll continue that would that would be that would be me so we'll continue the meeting um and i now give the floor to the member for carlton um mr prime minister you have i'm going to ask you one last time how much did your family get from this organization how much have you read the conflict of interest uh act mystery i have how does it define foreign so you're not going to answer the question about how much your family receive okay you're right gentlemen and it was christian prime minister ahead of time okay it wouldn't be the first time you tried to put the lights out and that's exactly what happened here we get a thunderstorm here anyway uh uh where will your you're well into your five minutes but go with one last question um you uh mr uh trudeau i'm gonna conclude by asking you um you claim that you have no knowledge of the amount that has been paid in expenses to your spouse you correctly pointed out that the act uh defines family as including a spouse therefore you knew you know you're under investigation uh regarding the act uh i'm gonna ask you again how much in total and i'm looking for a dollar figure here sir how much did your spouse receive in reimbursed expenses or other benefits from this organization how much the original question mr paulian was how much was my immediate family i asked you a different question the prime minister is the floor my wife has never been paid since i was prime minister reimbursed for expenses mr paliyev we could could we please have order we'll allow the prime minister to answer the question and then we'll move on to mr zero ms zerwitz uh sorry julie uh mr prime minister you have about 30 seconds here the ethics commissioner uh has fully cleared my wife to continue her advocacy and her work uh with we charity and other organizations in uh in uh in the kind of work that she's been doing all her life just the dollar for doing it unpaid for we she is not being paid uh by we for her advocacy or for her podcasts they are simply reinforcers for expenses thank you uh thank you mr prime minister

Channel: CTV News

Views: 3,984,248

Keywords: CTV, News, CTV News, Justin Trudeau, Margret Trudeau, Trudeau, WE Charity, ME to WE, Free the Children, Trudeau WE, WE Charity Trudeau, Craig Kielburger, Marc Kielburger, Ottawa, Liberal, Trudeau ethics, Trudeau investigation, Canadian politics, Andrew Scheer, Charlie Angus, SNC-Lavalin, SNC Lavalin

Id: 8bGVNPw9R8o

Length: 6min 58sec (418 seconds)

Published: Fri Jul 31 2020