Justin Trudeau says he did nothing wrong, but the federal Liberal leader is promising to compensate groups that paid him to speak at their events - including a nursing home charity in Saint John.
The Grace Foundation said they paid Trudeau $20,000 to speak at a June 2012 event that aimed to raise $300,000 for the nursing home, but they ended up losing money instead.
Trudeau says he is willing to make amends with any charitable organizations that have paid him to speak and felt they did not get their money’s worth.
“Some of them had successful events. Apparently the Grace Foundation didn’t have a great one. I am going to sit down with every single one of them and make this right,” Trudeau told CTV’s Question Period Sunday.
Conservative MP Rob Moore – whose New Brunswick riding includes The Grace Foundation – said in a statement that Trudeau ignored requests from the foundation for repayment for months, and doubts the sincerity of his response.
“I have always believed that Justin Trudeau's practice of charging tens of thousands of dollars to charities, churches and seniors groups was not right and went against the understood practice of our duties as Members of Parliament,” Moore said.
While the foundation described the event as a major disappointment and a financial loss in a letter to Trudeau, its website speaks glowingly of Trudeau’s appearance, calling it a night to remember.
The Grace Foundation did not return CTV’s phone calls on Monday, but the Progressive Conservatives have pounced on the issue.
“Now that it’s seen the light of day and people are calling him out, he now decides he might want to do the right thing?” said Moore. “He should have done the right thing from the start and not accepted the cheque.”
Political observers say the revelations about Trudeau’s speaking fees come at a particularly bad time for the Liberal leader because they interrupt what seems to have been some progress made by the party.
“This has been a great month for the Liberals and a really poor month for the Tories,” says J.P. Lewis, a political science professor at the University of New Brunswick.
“With the different scandals involving the Senate and the PMO, I think the biggest takeaway from this Trudeau incident is whether or not it stops that momentum.”
Some Saint John residents were surprised to find out politicians can accept speaking fees in the first place.
“I don’t believe they should be taking money to speak at a charitable event. That’s what it’s all about, charity,” says one resident.
“That’s charity money. They shouldn’t take it. They get enough pay already,” says another.
Trudeau has openly stated that he earned $1.3 million for public speaking engagements between 2006 and 2009. He revealed details of his personal fortune during his campaign for the Liberal leadership earlier this year. At the time, he said he stopped accepting paid speaking engagements when he launched his leadership campaign.
With files from CTV Atlantic's Mike Cameron and CTVNews.ca Staff
