Purpose
The case study assessment provides an opportunity to apply what we have learned in this course to a real-world application.
The Case Description
In May of 2021, federal Ethics Commissioner Mario Dion delivered his long-awaited report on the role of former federal Finance Minister Bill Morneau in the WE Charity scandal. The commissioner found that Morneau breached various sections of the Conflict of Interest Act by “improperly furthering WE’s private interests, by failing to recuse himself from decisions relating to WE, and by giving WE preferential treatment.” Morneau failed to recuse himself from the 2020 cabinet decision to pay the WE Charity $43.5 million to manage a $912 million student summer service program, despite their close personal family connections to the charity.
The federal government’s decision to sole-source the program that was originally aimed at awarding grants to students who could not find summer work due to COVID-19 ended up embroiling the Liberal minority government in a parliamentary ethics scandal and controversy for months.
Instructions
There are two parts to this final capstone assessment:
Students are to examine the scandal and provide a brief historical overview of the events .
Followed by an analysis of the events by applying all of the concepts and theories that we learned during the course.
The overview must be a minimum of 1500 words to no more than a maximum of 2000 words, contain a proper title page, bibliography, and properly cited throughout (APA format). Proper spelling and grammar.
A copy of the Ethics Commissioner’s report can be accessed at:
https://ciec-ccie.parl.gc.ca/en/investigations-enquetes/Pages/Morneau2Report.aspx