Province backing away from $260K contract with WE Charity
Education Minister Gord Wyant pulls pin on controversial deal
Saskatchewan is backing away from a $260,000 contract with the controversial WE Charity.
"We have paused the consideration of that contract and have since decided that we will not be proceeding with the delivery of those resources in our classrooms by WE," Education Minister Gord Wyant said Tuesday.
"We will not be proceeding with executing the contract with WE to deliver those resources and we will be communicating that with the organization if it already hasn't been communicated."
The SaskParty awarded WE Charity the non-competitive contract to promote student well-being in schools. Wyant said that given the current national controversy surrounding the WE Charity, the province doesn't have confidence in WE to deliver the program.
In July, The Saskatchewan NDP questioned whether a trip with ties to WE charity that Premier Scott Moe took in December 2019 was connected to the $260,000 contract for the charity.
"The timeline of events raises serious questions about the propriety and value of this contract," said NDP education critic Carla Beck in a news release.
"Who made the decision to hand WE Charity this contract, what is it intended to deliver for Saskatchewan students, and why did the Sask. Party choose a Trudeau-linked, Toronto-based charity to develop materials for our schools instead of actually addressing the understaffing and under-resourcing they've caused?"
The NDP's questions came the day after Prime Minister Justin Trudeau apologized for not recusing himself from cabinet discussions about awarding WE Charity a multi-million dollar contract to administer the federal government's summer student grants program.