The Pierre Elliott Trudeau Foundation finds itself in the hot seat these days. The Press follows up.
The Pierre Elliott Trudeau Foundation was founded in 2001 by friends and relatives of former Prime Minister of Canada Pierre Elliott Trudeau. In 2002, a federal aid program gave him $125 million in start-up funds. Since February 2023, the Trudeau Foundation has been in turmoil following revelations made in the Globe and Mail, in addition to Chinese interference in the 2019 and 2021 elections.
Morris Rosenberg returns to the donation of a Chinese billionaire to the Pierre Elliott Trudeau Foundation and defends his report
The Pierre Elliott Trudeau Foundation is repaying a $200,000 donation made in 2016, after a potential link to Beijing was raised.
Plunged into turmoil due to allegations concerning the donation made by a Chinese billionaire linked to Beijing, the board of directors of the Pierre Elliott Trudeau Foundation as well as its president and CEO Pascale Fournier are resigning en bloc.
Unlike Conservative leader Pierre Poilievre, who questioned in a sardonic letter whether former Governor General David Johnston had the independence required to fulfill his mandate as special rapporteur on Chinese interference, Justin Trudeau assured that he had no doubts about it.
Eight members of the board of directors, four members of senior management and six people acting as mentors resigned en bloc from the Trudeau Foundation on Tuesday because of major “ethical” questions raised by the “Chinese donation” made to the foundation in 2016 and 2017.
The Trudeau Foundation tried “repeatedly” to return a controversial check to a Chinese donor, but came up against a closed door: the issuing company’s head office is located in a decrepit — and deserted — estate in Dorval. The contract formalizing this donation, which La Presse obtained, was signed on behalf of the foundation in 2016 by Alexandre Trudeau, brother of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.
It is an association supervised by Beijing and the Chinese Communist Party that is behind the check for $ 200,000 to the Trudeau Foundation, which the organization attributed to a Chinese billionaire, shows a series of internal documents obtained by La Presse.
Justin Trudeau complicates his life with Chinese interference in Canadian elections. He is not responsible for it. He didn’t want it either. And it is not his role to monitor the Chinese. This work falls to the intelligence services, among others.
He would have everything to gain from being firm. But it does not, for fear of confirming that the problem exists. By trivializing it in this way, he becomes its accomplice in spite of himself.
This is anything but logical: the more the disturbing revelations about Chinese interference attempts in the federal election multiply, the more Justin Trudeau is honing in on himself.
The shovel is a very useful tool for politicians. In a storm, it’s about shoveling the problems forward and waiting for them to melt away on their own like snow on a sunny Easter weekend.
Talk to Justin Trudeau, who used this tried-and-true technique when accused of pressuring SCN-Lavalin to avoid lawsuits or exposing his entourage’s ties to WE Charity, to whom Ottawa had given a huge contract.
The time has passed. The grumbling melted away. And voters moved on to another call.
But China’s alleged interference in the 2019 and 2021 federal elections is far too fundamental an issue for the government to push aside and hope it evaporates.
Canada will soon have 40 million people. So why does Justin Trudeau have such a hard time appointing people who have no connection to his family to independent positions? Or to avoid those that are not likely to attract controversy?
What do you think of the Trudeau government’s reaction so far to allegations of Chinese interference in Canada? What do you expect for the rest of things?
