Chrystia Freeland and the 2024 World Economic Forum Meeting in Davos - A Conflict of Interest?

Canada has the dubious privilege of having a Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister who serves Klaus Schwab as a member of the Board of Trustees of the World Economic Forum.  As such, Chrystia Freeland's attendance at the annual WEF meeting held in Davos, Switzerland is a rather questionable adventure given that she has the option of attending the meeting as a representative of the voters of Canada or as a representative of Klaus Schwab or both.  This has become a sticking point for the federal Conservatives, particularly MP Leslyn Lewis who has repeatedly brought up the subject in Canada's House of Commons.

 

Here is an exchange between Ms. Lewis and Ms. Freeland as recorded in Hansard, the official written record of the proceedings of the House of Commons for Wednesday June 19, 2024:

  

Ms. Leslyn Lewis:

 

"With regard to Canada’s participation in the World Economic Forum Annual Meeting in Davos, Switzerland, from January 15 to 19, 2024: (a) how many individuals were part of Canada’s delegation; (b) who were the members of the delegation, including, for each, their (i) name, (ii) title, (iii) role; (c) what are the details of all meetings held in Davos involving the Deputy Prime Minister, including, for each, the (i) date, (ii) names and titles of the attendees, (iii) purpose of the meeting, (iv) agenda items, (v) summary of what occurred at the meeting, including any agreements made; (d) what are the details of all meetings held in Davos involving members of the Canadian delegation other than the Deputy Prime Minister, including, for each, the (i) date, (ii) names and titles of the attendees, (iii) purpose of the meeting, (iv) agenda items, (v) summary of what occurred at the meeting, including anything that was agreed to; (e) what are the details, including the summary of terms, of any agreements entered into during the forum; (f) what are the details of all follow-up action taken by the government as a result of what happened at the forum; (g) what are the details of all memoranda or briefing notes prepared to support Canada’s delegation to the forum, including, for each, the (i) date, (ii) sender, (iii) recipient, (iv) title, (v) subject matter, (vi) summary of contents, (vii) file number; and (h) what was the total cost to the taxpayer, broken down by category of expense?"

Hon. Chrystia Freeland (Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Finance, Lib.): 

 

"Mr. Speaker, the Department of Finance response to parts (a) through (h) is as follows:

The World Economic Forum Annual Meeting was held in Davos, Switzerland, from January 15 to 19, 2024. As the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Finance, I attended from January 16 to January 19, 2024, to advance Canadian economic interests.

"I held meetings with business leaders and other participants, including members of the Ukrainian delegation; a variety of business leaders about opportunities for Canada; and foreign government leaders and elected representatives.

I also participated in a panel entitled “No Recovery without Trade and Investment". Participants included Brian Moynihan, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of the Bank of America; Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, Director-General of the World Trade Organization; and Valdis Dombrovskis, European Commissioner for Trade.

 

Regarding the Department of Finance response to part (h): please note that travel expenditures for senior level departmental officers or employees, Ministers, ministerial advisors and ministerial staff are proactively disclosed on Open.Canada.ca (https://search.open.canada.ca/travel/)."

 

You will notice that Ms. Freeland was particularly reluctant to provide any details about the contingent that accompanied her to the 2024 edition of the Davos meeting nor did she provide any of her memoranda or briefing notes used during the meeting.  One thing that we do know is that the trip cost Canadian taxpayers significant tax dollars as shown here:

 

This is not the first time that Freeland has availed herself of Canadians' tax dollars for her junkets to Davos.

 

While she claims that she represented Canada at Davos 2024, we have no way of knowing how much time she spent on her duties as a World Economic Forum representative.  At the very least and as I have pointed out in the past, the World Economic Forum is quite capable of financing the travel expenses of its Trustees as shown on this screen capture from its 2022 - 2023 Annual Report which you can find here:

 

With total revenue of US$457.6 million and assets of US$840.4 million effective June 30, 2023, one would think that Ms. Freeland would avail herself funding provided by her "globalist masters" rather than stiffing Canadian taxpayers for $12,170.73 when travelling to the annual Davos extravaganza.

 

But, then again, this is what happens when you put yourself into a situation where there is clearly a conflict of interest.