Most Canadians believe Trudeau government will survive WE scandal: poll
Posted August 10, 2020 8:47 am.
Last Updated August 10, 2020 11:49 am.
OTTAWA – Most Canadians believe there is more to come in the ongoing WE Charity controversy that has been dogging the Trudeau government, according to a new poll.
However, the survey finds they also don’t think the Liberals will be taken down over it.
This scandal has been politically problematic for the Trudeau government, and Shachi Kurl, executive director of the Angus Reid Institute, says its latest survey finds Canadians don’t believe the matter has been put to rest.
“Nearly three quarters of Canadians say there’s more to come, and that includes, by the way, 50 per cent of past Liberal voters,” she explains. “That there are more revelations, that we haven’t heard everything. We still don’t know exactly what happened.”
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However, while most people believe the matter is serious, nearly 70 per cent say they don’t believe it will bring down the government.
“Seven-in-10 who say, ultimately, it’s either going to make no difference or they’ll still survive,” Kurl says.
The poll was conducted in the wake of the Commons committee testimony from Prime Minister Justin Trudeau over concerns his government handed a contract to the WE Charity, despite the organization’s financial ties to his family.
Trudeau has apologized for not recusing himself from cabinet discussions about the WE deal given his family’s relationship with the charity, but has denied any wrongdoing.
The results also come as members of the House of Commons finance committee wait to get their hands on more than 5,000 pages of government documents related to the controversy.
Committee members are hoping the documents will shed light on the discussions that led to the decision to have WE run the Canada Student Services Grant, before the deal was cancelled in early July.
