The House of Commons Public Accounts Committee has voted unanimously to have Canada's Auditor-General investigate the Chretien government's 2002 endowment of $125 million to the Pierre Elliott Trudeau Foundation.
Sep 22, 2023 - "The Commons Public Accounts committee unanimously voted 10-0 on Thursday to instruct the Auditor General to investigate the initial funds provided by taxpayers to support the Trudeau Foundation. According to Blacklock’s Reporter, the government gave the Foundation $125 million, some of which was used to purchase stocks in China.
"'I would like that the Auditor General within her powers look into the original agreement with the Government of Canada, which gave $125 million to the Trudeau Foundation,' said Bloc Québécois MP Nathalie Sinclair-Desgagné (Terrebonne, QC), sponsor of the motion.... 'It is very unusual that a foundation with the name of an individual receive public funds,' said Sinclair-Desgagné. 'There are many foundations that have names of individuals, but they never receive public funds like the Trudeau Foundation. That imposes some responsibilities and obligations and we need to make sure.'
"MPs passed the motion 'that the Auditor General investigate the funding agreement between the Government of Canada and the Trudeau Foundation particularly as regards to the Foundation’s compliance with its obligations under this agreement.' 'The language could not be any clearer,” said Sinclair-Desgagné. 'We are asking for an investigation'....
"Parliament in 2002 approved the $125 million endowment. 'What is a more fitting legacy to the man who symbolized youth, excellence and the innovative spirit?' said then-Prime Minister Jean Chretien.
"Opposition MPs questioned the funding at the time. 'Access to Information does not apply to these foundations,” then-Canadian Alliance MP Val Meredith (Surrey-White Rock, BC) told a 2003 Commons Public Accounts committee hearing. 'We don’t have any control over what the agreement says, what they do with the money or whether they are spending it in the way it is supposed to be spent.' [The Foundation was put under FOI requirements in 2007 by the Harper government - gd]
"Earlier, people said that up to 2021, the Foundation had an unknown amount of money in Chinese company shares. 'We had two investments,” Edward Johnson, chair of the board, told a June 8 hearing. The China portfolio had stocks in Tencent Holdings Limited, a video game company from Shenzhen, and in the software firm Baidu.
“'Those people who are trying to get short-term political gain by increasing polarization and partisanship in this country by launching completely unfounded and ungrounded attacks against charities or foundations must not succeed,' Trudeau told reporters on April 11."
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.
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:
The president and CEO, and board of directors, of the Pierre Elliott Trudeau Foundation have resigned en masse, blaming "politicization" that has "made it impossible to continue with the status quo."
April 11, 2023 - "The Pierre Elliott Trudeau Foundation's president and board of directors have resigned en masse, citing the charity's entanglement in the ongoing foreign interference controversy.
"In a statement, the foundation said that a $200,000 donation in 2016 from a businessman linked to the Chinese government 'has put a great deal of pressure on the foundation's management and volunteer board of directors, as well as on our staff and our community.' The charity announced last month that it would return the donation. The Conservatives criticized the government over the matter, saying the donation compromised a government report on the integrity of the 2021 federal election.
"'The circumstances created by the politicization of the foundation have made it impossible to continue with the status quo, and the volunteer board of directors has resigned, as has the president and CEO,' the statement said.
"The foundation is independent and Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has no involvement with it. 'The Trudeau Foundation is a foundation with which I have absolutely no intersection,' Trudeau told a news conference Tuesday.... The charity, established in 2001 to honour former prime minister Pierre Elliott Trudeau, funds scholarships, mentorships and fellowships.
"Last month, Prime Minister Trudeau appointed former governor general David Johnston as a special rapporteur to investigate foreign interference in Canadian elections and institutions, including alleged meddling by the Chinese government. The Conservatives have questioned Johnston's impartiality, in part by pointing to Johnston's former role as a member of the Trudeau Foundation. Foundation members are responsible for appointing the board of directors. Johnston resigned from the foundation following his appointment as special rapporteur....
"The statement said three directors will remain on an interim basis to continue the charity's work while a new board is appointed. The foundation's website currently lists six members of the board of directors. Its president and CEO, Pascale Fournier, had been in the position for almost five years.
"Reacting to news of the resignations Tuesday morning, Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre called for an investigation into the charity. 'We need to investigate the Beijing-funded Trudeau Foundation,' Poilievre tweeted. 'We need to know who got rich, who got paid and who got privilege and power from Justin Trudeau as a result of funding to the Trudeau Foundation.'
"Bloc Québécois Leader Yves-François Blanchet said the resignations make the 2016 donation look more suspicious. He called on Johnston to step down as special rapporteur and for the government to call a public inquiry into foreign interference.... NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh said he won't comment on the Trudeau Foundation specifically. He repeated his calls for a public inquiry."
Chinese Billionaire Made $1 Million Donation to Trudeau Charity Following Election that Brought Liberals to Power | National Review - Ari Blaff: February 28, 2023 - "Ahead of the 2015 Canadian elections, the Chinese Community Party (CCP) reportedly considered targeting Justin Trudeau, then the Liberal Party’s national leader, to be the recipient of a million-dollar 'donation' via the Pierre Elliott Trudeau Foundation, named after his father and former prime minister. Canadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS) sources told the Globe & Mail, on condition of anonymity, that a commercial attaché at a Chinese consulate in Canada instructed Zhang Bin, a billionaire political adviser to the CCP, to transfer $1 million to the Trudeau Foundation.... [T]he Chinese government further added that it would reimburse Zhang for the political donation....
"[T]he following year the prime minister attended a party fundraiser in Toronto hosted by the Chinese Business Chamber of Commerce which Zhang attended. Shortly after the fundraiser, Zhang and Niu Genssheng, a wealthy Chinese business leader turned philanthropist, made a joint $1 million donation 'to honour the memory and leadership' of former prime minister Pierre Eliott Trudeau. According to the Globe & Mail report, twenty percent of the contribution was earmarked for academic fellowships and scholarships, with the remaining bulk set aside for the University of Montreal’s law school that included grants for college students to visit China.
"However, the prime minister dismissed any nefarious connections between Zhang’s contribution to the Trudeau foundation in a statement on Monday. 'Following his election as Leader of the Liberal Party, the Prime Minister withdrew his involvement in the affairs of the foundation for the duration of his involvement in federal politics,' Press Secretary Ann-Clara Vaillancourt noted.
"The revelations come on the heels of investigative reporting by Globe & Mail last week which revealed that the CCP meddled in Canada’s 2021 federal elections with the aim of re-electing Justin Trudeau.... 'Most important, the intelligence reports show that Beijing was determined that the Conservatives did not win. China employed disinformation campaigns and proxies connected to Chinese-Canadian organizations in Vancouver and the GTA [Greater Toronto Area], which have large mainland Chinese immigrant communities, to voice opposition to the Conservatives and favour the Trudeau Liberals,' journalists Robert Fife and Steven Chase wrote.
Trudeau Foundation returning $200K to Beijing-linked donor | CBC News - Darren Major: March 1, 2023 - "The Pierre Elliott Trudeau Foundation is returning a donation worth thousands of dollars made by an adviser to the Chinese government. In 2016, Zhang Bin, a wealthy Chinese businessman and adviser to the Chinese government, made a donation to the foundation worth $200,000. A story published by the Globe and Mail on Tuesday suggests that Canadian security officials linked that donation back to the Chinese government. Foundation president Pascale Fournier released a statement on Wednesday saying that, in light of the Globe's reporting, the foundation — which funds and promotes academic and public interest research — has reimbursed Zhang the full amount of the donation....
"The donation has drawn scrutiny from the Conservatives, who say it has compromised a recent report on foreign interference in the 2021 election. A report assessing the work of top civil servants tasked with monitoring and alerting the public of foreign interference in that election ... released Tuesday ... was written by Morris Rosenberg, a former senior public servant for more than 30 years. Rosenberg also served as the [Trudeau] foundation's president when Zhang made the donation.
"Even before Rosenberg's report was made public Tuesday, the Conservative Party said those ties discredit his work. 'This discredits the report and proves we need a separate investigation, and the government should fully cooperate with the House committee studying this very issue. They must cease their obstructionism, and the NDP must stop protecting the Liberals in committee so Canadians can finally discover the extent of [Chinese Communist Party] interference'.... Intergovernmental Affairs Minister Dominic LeBlanc dismissed the Conservatives' assertions, calling them a 'gratuitous smear.'" Read more: https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/trudeau-foundation-returning-donation-chinese-government-adviser-1.6764847
