Blinded by his own privilege, Bill Morneau is painfully out of touch with Canadians

Finance Minister Bill Morneau would have us believe that he was so caught up in the financial plight of students that it never dawned on him that he might have a conflict of interest in the question of whether to award a contract to the WE Charity to administer a $900-million program.

It slipped his mind that he had taken a couple of family trips connected to WE’s projects in developing countries and rung up more than $40,000 in expenses that he hadn’t reimbursed.

He had forgotten that his wife had donated generously to the charity, and he just didn’t think that his daughters’ connections and employment with the organization would look odd to the general public.

“I didn’t see it as a conflict,” he said Wednesday.

But if Morneau is so ignorant of how his involvement with the charity that was granted a $43-million contract would be perceived, he is painfully out of touch with the public he aims to serve.

Even as thousands of dollars slide through his hands without him heeding where they are going or bothering to make sure he is playing by the rules of ethical behaviour, there are millions of people who are pinching every single penny right now because they don’t know where the next one will come from.

In the blocks around Morneau’s office near Parliament Hill, the lunch spots are empty and the store fronts are dark. The odd cafeteria still open has no staff left, because there are no customers. The neighbourhood dentist has started seeing clients again, but he handles everything himself because his assistants are too scared to come to work for fear of catching the virus.

The pandemic economy is desolate, and it’s still very much with us despite some tentative reopenings. And it is hitting the working class and small business hardest and longest.

It’s also hitting parents, who are facing great uncertainty and a shortage of safe places to send their children in September, sidelining many a mother from the prospect of returning to work. The federal government put $625 million toward that problem last week, but it’s a pittance against the need.

Does Morneau see that?

Of course, there’s no rule saying a wealthy and connected businessman like Morneau can’t be a solid finance minister and become an effective champion for spreading the wealth around. But in this case, Morneau appears to be so blinded by his own privilege that he can’t see the conflicts staring back at him.

There are many.

In testimony that the Liberals had hoped would clear the air on Thursday, Morneau told the Commons finance committee that he had had occasional contact with WE leaders because their organization is based in his Toronto riding. One of his daughters interned there, eventually getting a longer-term position in administration. Another daughter spoke at WE events about her book.

The family travelled to Ecuador to see what WE was doing there and pitch in, and took another trip to Africa.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has a parallel history of family ties with the organization.

It was against that backdrop that Morneau and Trudeau spoke by phone one evening in early April to hash out their thoughts on how to help students and youth in the pandemic. The conversation, Morneau said, turned to volunteering and service — long a personal interest for Trudeau, who had taken part in the Katimavik youth corps formed by his father, eventually headed up the organization and made no secret of longing for its revival.

At the same time, WE was actively circulating proposals to be involved in the pandemic effort.

So it’s not surprising that the WE proposals floated quickly to the surface in the civil service and eventually carried the day. Morneau’s department framed the idea and started the bureaucratic process to make it real. Morneau was kept in the loop throughout and signed off on it.

What is surprising is that it took from June 25 till now — four weeks less a day – for Morneau to realize this arrangement just stinks.

At least at the committee, he seems to have been more forthcoming about his connections with WE than Diversity and Inclusion and Youth Minister Bardish Chagger, who omitted to mention earlier this week that she had met with WE right before Trudeau announced the youth aid package in April.

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Despite the disclosure, we still don’t know exactly how the WE proposal ended up in the right hands, or what happened to it during the months of May and June when it was supposed to have been up and running.

But it’s enough to make you suspect that what was on the Liberals’ minds was not actually the fate of students scrounging to pay their tuition, but the promotion of an idea that boosted the brand of the We Charity as well as the brand of the Liberal party and its appeal to youth.

For a finance minister to be unable or unwilling to see the difference between boosting a brand and actually helping the pandemic’s young victims is troubling indeed.