Food for Thought
Is history about to repeat itself? Are you able to remember how, forty years ago, Pierre Trudeau, with arrogant disregard for Canada and the well-being of Canadians, drove this country into such chaos that, to this day, we haven’t fully recovered? Is Justin following in his father’s footsteps?
The latest ignominy with Justin Trudeau and WE is no surprise. As his father often did, Justin thumbed his nose at the Ethics Commissioner and, with hubris, took his family for an all-inclusive free holiday to a private island owned by the Aga Khan.
If Justin had not been caught with his hand in the cookie jar, he would have handed over hundreds of millions of taxpayers’ dollars to WE, so that they could pay their volun-tourists a salary. Justin and his family have very close ties to WE. They have been paid to speak at many WE events and Justin’s wife contracted COVID-19 while on an all-inclusive vacation in London, England, paid for by WE.
Pierre Trudeau triggered runaway inflation through his massive spending which increased the national debt so much that interest rates rose drastically pushing housing mortgages to over 20 per cent. Many young Canadians lost their homes to the banks. Justin, like his father, spends taxpayers’ money like a drunken sailor.
Justin has revealed to all of us that charities are BIG BUSINESS, and there is BIG MONEY to be made in charities. Charity employees and speakers often make in the hundreds of thousands and even millions of dollars a year. How much money did Trudeau, along with his friends and family, receive from WE? These payments are not paid directly to the speakers, they are paid through Speakers’ Spotlight, the agent for the Trudeau family, as well as for the Kielburger brothers.
Justin’s mother began working with Speakers’ Spotlight over twenty years ago while keeping her job as a paid employee of a charity. Craig and Marc Kielburger joined Speakers’ Spotlight a short while later, and, in 2005, Justin Trudeau also joined Speakers’ Spotlight. In 2007, the year Justin began speaking at WE youth rallies, his earnings from speaker fees were $462,000. He, along with Craig Kielburger, known as the Pied Piper, connected with young impressionable up-and-coming voters by preaching the new gospel, Man is responsible for Global Warming and Climate Change. However, WE, working as a team, can create a new world where everyone will have food, clean water, and shelter. There will be no need to look for work, everyone will enjoy a guaranteed income. And remember, a vote for Trudeau is a vote for WE. Justin and his wife, at WE events, would often entertain as a team, bantering back and forth like Abbot and Costello.
In the House of Commons, Justin referred to himself repeatedly as a “professional fundraiser”. Moonlighting, while a member of parliament, he was receiving thousands of dollars in fees for speaking at charitable events. Trudeau argued that some people did not understand fundraising techniques if they think no one should ever get paid for helping charities raise money.
The business of charity has become so lucrative that thousands, like Trudeau and members of his family, have become “professional fundraisers”. In 2018, the average salary for a Certified Fund Raising Executive (CFRE) in the USA was $280,530 ($380,000 CDN). Some CFRE salaries run into the millions. NICE WORK, if you can get it.
Authors, such as the late Christopher Hitchens, The Missionary Position, and Jason Berry, Render unto Rome, describe how millions of dollars sometimes disappear from charity bank accounts, leaving no trace. Mr. Hitchens noted, sardonically, that, “saints, it seems, are immune to audit”. Charities have been used to launder money, as a tax dodge, as a cover for pedophile rings, human trafficking, and other crimes; yet, authorities have been shown to often turn a blind eye, stating, investigation into these activities is costly and allegations are hard to prove. Most charities have subsidiaries and money is freely passed around between the various sub-charities, making it very difficult to follow the money.
Is it time for us to recognise that charities are businesses and they should be treated the same as any other business, including paying taxes?
Wayne Weedon is an Indigenous Manitoba writer of novels and short stories. To sample his wonderful work go to Wattpad.com.