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Supreme Court Restores Review of Ethics Commissioner’s WE Charity Ruling

The top court struck down a statutory bar in the Conflict of Interest Act so a watchdog can challenge Mario Dion’s 2021 findings in court.

The ruling allows Democracy Watch to continue to pursue a court challenge of a federal ethics report on former prime minister Justin Trudeau’s involvement in government decisions related to the WE Charity.
A man walks past the Supreme Court of Canada, Friday, June 16, 2023 in Ottawa. (Adrian Wyld/The Canadian Press)
Former prime minister Justin Trudeau was grilled by MPs on the House of Commons finance committee in 2020 about his government's decision to to task WE Charity with running a $900 million student grant program. Former ethics commissioner Mario Dion cleared Trudeau of a conflict on interest in the case saying he did not have a close relationship with We Charity's founders.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau arrives on Parliament Hill on Monday, March 10, 2025 in Ottawa. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Adrian Wyld

Overview

  • The Supreme Court ruled that courts can review the federal ethics commissioner’s decisions on questions of fact and law and declared the part of Section 66 that barred such review of no force and effect.
  • The decision is procedural and constitutional only and does not resolve whether Justin Trudeau or Bill Morneau actually breached the Conflict of Interest Act in the WE Charity matter.
  • The ruling allows Democracy Watch to pursue its judicial review of Mario Dion’s May 2021 report and awards the group costs to continue the challenge.
  • Dion’s original report cleared Trudeau of a breach while finding that then–finance minister Bill Morneau had violated the conflict rules over the WE Charity student grant program.
  • The court said the authority to review delegated administrative power belongs to judges, a change that could make it harder for legislatures to insulate agency decisions from court scrutiny and could lead to more legal challenges over public‑sector ethics.