WATCH: Justin Trudeau denies conflict of interest in WE Charity scandal

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau denied that there was any conflict of interest when he failed to recuse himself from the decision to grant WE Charity the sole right to administer the Canada Student Summer Grant program this summer in an interview with CBC's Rosie Barton.

"Again this year you placed yourself in a position of conflict at the cabinet table around the WE Charity decision," Barton said, "knowing, at least, that your wife had been paid by the organization for speaking, your brother, and your mother. Do you have an ethical blind spot? How does this keep happening to you?"

The Trudeau family has collectively received over $427,000 from WE Charity in payments and amenities over the years, which led many critics of the Trudeau government to allege conflict of interest.

Trudeau began answering the question by stating that he was simply trying to help Canadians during the pandemic, with Barton asking "what does that have to do with this decision?"

"As I said at the time, I should have recused myself because of the optics," Trudeau lamented. "And I'm sorry that I didn't, and yes, absolutely, I would have done things differently." He further reiterated that the goal of the program was to deliver help to Canadians seeking summer work.

Barton, visibly unimpressed with Trudeau's answer, "I understand that, but as a result of your blind spot, no one got the help," resulting in Trudeau listing off programs which his government has implemented to provide relief to students.

Trudeau insisted that not recusing himself only appears to be a conflict of interest, but is not actually a conflict of interest as he did not directly profit from the deal.

"There was a communications challenge, there was an optics challenge, there was no conflict of interest. There was absolutely no conflict of interest," Trudeau told Barton.

Trudeau also denied that former Finance Minister Bill Morneau did not resign due to the WE Charity scandal, and that he was simply looking to move on from his position. Morneau, who also failed to recuse himself from the decision, was accused of conflict of interest in the scandal after it was revealed that he received over $41,000 in amenities from the charity in the years prior to the approval of the summer jobs program. Morneau, a multimillionaire, paid back the money only hours before a scheduled appearance before the Ethics Committee on the matter.

When asked about the prorogation of parliament and the subsequent filibustering of committees investigating the scandal, Trudeau denied that the prorogation of parliament had anything to do with the scandal.

"We prorogued parliament because we were in the middle of a pandemic. Obviously, the opposition will and can continue to focus on whatever they want, we stayed focus on Canadians," Trudeau said.

Trudeau did not explain why his party chose to filibuster multiple committees.