Cabinet ministers to appear at House of Commons committee investigating WE Charity deal

Two Liberal cabinet ministers will appear next week before a House of Commons committeeinvestigating the government's decision to have the WE Charity administer itsnow-aborted student volunteer program.

Minister of Employment Carla QualtroughandMinister of Small Business Mary Ng both have appeared on the notice of Wednesday's meeting of the finance committee, which was posted on Friday. They are each scheduled to speak for one hour.

Benot Robidoux, the associate deputy minister at the Department of Employment and Social Development,isalso scheduled to appear.

The government has been embroiled in controversy ever since Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced that WE would administer the Canada Student Service Grant (CSSG) in June. The program was meant toprovide eligible students with grants of up to $5,000 in exchange for volunteer service.

The sole-sourced agreement with WE was to pay one of its foundations up to $43.5 million to administer the program, for which the government budgeted $912 million.

WE withdrew from the agreementamid apublic outcry over the organization's tiesto Trudeau and members of his family, who have received speaking fees from the group totalling more than $500,000.

Opposition politicians have accused Trudeau and Finance Minister BillMorneauof being in a conflict of interest by participating in thecabinet decision to have WE Charity administer the student grants.

Ethics Commissioner Mario Dion is investigatingTrudeau andMorneau for possible violations of the Conflict of Interest Act.

Both Trudeau and Morneau whose family also has tiesto WE have apologized for not recusing themselves.