WE Charity scandal: Why Canadian prime minister Justin Trudeau is facing an ethics probe

A charity organisation called WE Charity has admitted paying nearly CAN$300,000 to Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's mother, brother and wife for speaking engagements over the past few years. Trudeau's wife would have received CAN$1,500 for an event in 2012, before her husband had become the head of the Liberal Party.Also questions were raised after it was found that two of Morneau's daughters were associated with the charity, one of them as an employee.

Trudeau is now set to give much-anticipated testimony this week over his role in awarding a government contract to the charity. Trudeau will testify for an hour on Thursday at 3:00 pm (1900 GMT) before the House of Commons Finance Committee.

As per reports, this is an exceptional move for a head of government, and will likely be an eventful session for Trudeau. Last week, the two main opposition parties called for the resignation of Trudeau, who leads a minority government.

Both Trudeau and Morneau have apologized for not recusing themselves from the negotiations on the contract awarded to WE Charity. Last week, Morneau drew further backlash from the opposition when he said he had reimbursed WE Charity for more than CAN$41,000 in travel expenses related to two humanitarian trips he and his family took in 2017.

This is not the first time that Trudeau has found himself in such situations. He has run afoul of the ethics commissioner on two previous occasions since 2017 for conflict of interest violations.