Credit: CPAC

By Mel Rothenburger

ARMCHAIR MAYOR

ROTHENBURGER: Committee hearings no way to get to bottom of WE scandal

Jul 29, 2020 | 5:05 AM

KAMLOOPS — IF TUESDAY’S FINANCE COMMITTEE meeting is any indication, Canadians aren’t going to be much better informed about the WE Charity scandal after Prime Minister Justin Trudeau makes his appearance tomorrow.

Conservative and NDP pit bulls (if you’ll excuse the expression) went after the Kielburger brothers — Marc and Craig — relentlessly for four hours, frequently cutting them off with sarcastic remarks and demands for “yes or no” responses.

These were interspersed with calls for points of order that weren’t points of order, and the Liberal committee chair Wayne Easter insisting that the Kielburgers be allowed to answer the questions.

If you were flipping channels between the WE inquisition and the U.S. House Judiciary Committee’s verbal brawl with Attorney-General William Barr, you might have been confused about which was which. One yelling match is like another.

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The Kielburgers, who founded WE, held up very well during the lengthy grilling, the essence of which can’t possibly be captured in condensed media accounts.

Despite constant badgering from the likes of Pierre Polievre, Charlie Angus and Michael Cooper, they managed to correct a number of factual errors published in the media and perpetuated by the Opposition about the charity’s connections with the government.

Their main point was that they weren’t getting a financial benefit from the student assistance program. All in all, the Kielburgers can count their appearance as a win but what began as a fairly simple question of conflict of interest has now become very complicated, verging on the unfathomable.

If the Kielburgers think they got rough treatment yesterday, just wait until it’s Trudeau’s turn Thursday. It promises to be a dilly. The finance committee hearings this week have proven something, and that is that they’re no place to get to the bottom of such issues. Only an independent process untainted by the agendas of desperate politicians could do the job properly. The ethics commissioner’s probes will surely be more enlightening.

I’m Mel Rothenburger, the Armchair Mayor.

Mel Rothenburger is a former mayor of Kamloops and a retired newspaper editor. He is a regular contributor to CFJC Today, publishes the ArmchairMayor.ca opinion website, and is a director on the Thompson-Nicola Regional District board. He can be reached at mrothenburger@armchairmayor.ca.

Editor’s Note: This opinion piece reflects the views of its author, and does not necessarily represent the views of CFJC Today or the Jim Pattison Broadcast Group.