Ottawa, July 31 (TIWN) Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said that despite his family's ties with a charity, he did not place himself in a conflict of interest through his involvement in cabinet discussions on getting the group to run a now-halted C$900 million student grant program.

"I was not in a position of conflict of interest. I apologized because of the perception (over) ties with my family. I should have recused myself," CBC News quoted Trudeau as saying to a House of Commons committee on Thursday.  The Prime Minister has been under fire since June 25 when his government granted the WE Charity group a sole-sourced contract to run the program.  The Trudeau family has a close relationship with the organization.  The Canadian leader's wife, mother and brother were allegedly paid hundreds of thousands of dollars for their appearances at WE Charity events.