The Canadian government-funded Pierre Elliott Trudeau Foundation is investigating a controversial donation from a businessman with ties to the Chinese government, following the mass resignation of the foundation's CEO and board of directors.
Controversial Trudeau Foundation donation from Beijing-linked businessman was not reimbursed | CBC News - Peter Zimonjic:
April 12, 2023 - "A controversial $140,000 donation to the Pierre Elliott Trudeau Foundation has not yet been returned because the charity has been unable to find anyone able to accept the payment, say sources who have spoken with Radio-Canada. Last month, the Globe and Mail reported that Zhang Bin — a businessman later identified by the newspaper as being linked to the Chinese government — pledged in 2016 to donate $200,000 to the foundation.... Shortly after that report, foundation president Pascale Fournier said the foundation had reimbursed the full amount of the donation.... Radio-Canada confirmed Wednesday that the money has not been returned. The refund cheque was issued but it has yet to be cashed.... Radio-Canada sources say that while the donation was given to the foundation by two individuals, the cheques were in the name of a corporation. The sources told Radio-Canada that the foundation has not been able to deliver the reimbursement to that corporation.
"The foundation also said that its board would launch an independent review of its acceptance of the donation. It said that the review would be conducted by an accounting firm overseen by a law firm, and that both firms would have no prior involvement with the foundation. This week, Fournier and the foundation's board of directors resigned en masse.... Sources told Radio Canada that the mass resignation stemmed from members of the board wanting the foundation to do more to verify the provenance of donations."
Read more: https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/trudeau-foundation-china-donation-1.6808272
April 12, 2023 - "The Pierre Elliott Trudeau Foundation says it is launching an 'independent review' of a $140,000 donation that had a 'potential connection to the Chinese government,' as the scholarship charity is engulfed in an ongoing political firestorm over Beijing’s alleged interference in Canadian politics. In a statement Wednesday, the Montreal-based foundation said its board of directors unanimously agreed to stage an investigation before they resigned en masse this week, with an official explanation claiming the 'political climate' had made the charity’s work impossible.
"One source with direct knowledge of the situation said an internal feud erupted in recent days after the organization’s attempt to refund the donation failed. The source, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said the failure prompted a desire for an independent investigation, but there were disagreements among board members about how that review should play out. The Trudeau Foundation did not immediately respond to a request for comment Wednesday about the source’s concern. Several officials at the charity did not respond to interview requests, while others declined to speak when contacted by the Star....
"Though it was originally billed as a $200,000 donation, Johnson’s statement said the Trudeau Foundation received only $140,000 of the pledged money. It also said the charity issued a refund cheque under the donor’s name, but did not confirm whether the money was successfully returned.... Another source with knowledge of the situation also told the Star the charity’s attempt to refund the donation failed, after Montreal’s La Presse newspaper reported an internal foundation document — which the Star has not seen — said the money could not be returned because the name on the donation cheque didn’t match the actual source of the funds....
"The Conservatives have latched on to reports of the Trudeau Foundation donation, arguing it raises questions about whether officials with ties to the charity — which Poilievre labels as 'Beijing-funded' — should be probing alleged foreign interference for the government. That includes Morris Rosenberg, a former civil servant who was head of the foundation when the donation was made in 2016, and who penned a recent report on foreign interference in the 2021 election. It also includes former governor general David Johnston, who is a foundation member tasked with examining the issue and recommending whether a public inquiry — which opposition parties are demanding — is necessary....
"Established in 2001, a year after Pierre Trudeau’s death, the foundation received a $125-million endowment from the federal government in 2002. The idea was to support the research of more than 100 scholars every year to honour the late prime minister’s memory. But with the ascent of Justin Trudeau from Liberal MP to prime minister, the foundation came to be seen by some under a more political lens. After the Liberals took office in 2015, the government came under fire for so-called 'cash-for-access\ fundraising, in which the party sought donations at events where contributors could hobnob with cabinet ministers or even Trudeau himself.
"Chinese businessman Zhang Bin reportedly attended such an event with the prime minister. Then, in 2016, according to a news release from the Université de Montréal, Zhang and another person identified as a fellow businessman — Niu Gensheng — donated $1 million to commemorate Pierre Trudeau’s ties with China....[U]niversity spokesperson Geneviève O’Meara confirmed the school’s faculty of law was slated to receive $750,000 of this money, with another $50,000 going toward a statue on campus of [Mau Zedong and] Pierre Trudeau, who attended and taught at the university. But the statue was never built, and the school only ever received $500,000, O’Meara said by email. Another $200,000 of the money was slated for the Trudeau Foundation....
""The 2016 donation ... grew more controversial this year, after the Globe and Mail reported it was part of a suspected campaign of foreign influence by the Chinese government. The revelation added to the ongoing political firestorm involving allegations of Beijing’s election meddling and interference in Canadian politics that has troubled the Liberal government for months. And in response, the Trudeau Foundation declared on March 1 it had refunded all money received from the 2016 pledge, after learning of a “potential connection” with the Chinese government. While the foundation now says it has issued a cheque under the donor’s name, the Université de Montréal still hasn’t decided what to do with the $500,000 it received."
Read more: https://www.thestar.com/politics/federal/2023/04/12/whats-going-on-with-the-trudeau-foundation-heres-what-we-know-about-the-controversy-that-led-to-a-mass-resignation.html
Brian Lilley, "Would anyone notice if the Trudeau Foundation disappeared?", Toronto Sun, April 12, 2023:
Anything with the name "Trudeau" including the prime minister should be gone..
ReplyDelete