What is the Pierre Elliott Trudeau Foundation?
The Pierre Elliott Trudeau Foundation is a non-partisan charitable organization that offers doctoral scholarship, mentorship and fellowship programs. It was founded in 2001 in memory of former Prime Minister Pierre Elliott Trudeau. In 2002, it received $125 million from the federal government as start-up funds. Justin Trudeau has always said that he no longer meddle in the affairs of the foundation, which bears the name of his father, since he became head of the Liberal Party of Canada. An exchange of emails obtained by The Press suggests the opposite, however – we will come back to this.
PHOTO FRANÇOIS ROY, LA PRESSE ARCHIVES
The offices of the Pierre Elliott Trudeau Foundation on Sherbrooke Street West, in Montreal
Why is it controversial?
The heart of the case dates back to 2016. It concerns a $200,000 donation announced by a Chinese billionaire to the Pierre Elliott Trudeau Foundation. The contribution made headlines at the time, but resurfaced last February when the Globe and Mail revealed a potential connection to Beijing. According to a national security source who reported information intercepted by the Canadian Security Intelligence Service, the wealthy businessman Zhang Bin was ordered by a Chinese diplomat to make a donation worth 1 million dollars to the organization, with the promise that it would be reimbursed. In the end, the Pierre Elliott Trudeau Foundation only received $140,000. A donation of $800,000 was also made to the law faculty of the Université de Montréal.
Was $140,000 enough to ignite the powder?
You have to remember the context. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has been under constant pressure for the past few weeks for an independent investigation to shed light on China’s attempts to interfere in the 2019 and 2021 elections. benefited from the political intervention of Beijing in the results of the last elections. According to the Globe and Mail, Chinese diplomats stationed in Canada would have tried in particular to discourage the Chinese diaspora from voting for certain elected Conservatives. In yet another twist, documents obtained by The Press revealed on Friday that an association supervised by Beijing was indeed behind the check paid to the Pierre Elliott Trudeau Foundation.
Wait, so we’re not talking about a Chinese billionaire anymore?
In fact, Zhang Bin is also president of the China Cultural Industry Association (CCIA), an organization “approved by the Beijing State Council” and “supervised by the Chinese Ministry of Culture”, according to its website. The first two installments of $70,000 each were made to the Pierre Elliott Trudeau Foundation by the CCIA. The tax receipt issued by the organization, however, was in the name of International Millennium Golden Eagle, Zhang Bin’s company. As for the donation made to the University of Montreal, it came from another billionaire member of the CCIA: Niu Gensheng. At the beginning of March, the Pierre Elliott Trudeau Foundation announced that it would reimburse the disputed donation. After struggling to return it, she finally reimbursed the total sum of $140,000 to the International Millennium Golden Eagle, whose head office is located in a deserted area in Dorval.
Who quit this week and why?
Eight members of the board of directors presented their resignation Monday evening to the foundation, as well as four members of the management, including the one who was president and general manager, Pascale Fournier. They felt that members who were already on the board in 2016, at the time of the donation, should recuse themselves completely to avoid interfering in an independent investigation. However, they would have refused to do so. Contrary to what the press release asserts, which attributes the situation to the “politicization of the file”, it is rather this “ethical crisis” of governance that led to the break-up of the Board The three members of the Board who remain at the foundation, lawyers Edward Johnson, Peter Sahlas and Bruce McNiven, are all part of the group that was present at the time of the donation in 2016.
How did the Prime Minister’s Office react?
Justin Trudeau repeated Thursday that he had not been involved in the affairs of the foundation for 10 years. Gold, The Press obtained a 2016 email exchange between the agency’s then-executive director and a key employee in the Prime Minister’s Office. The latter demanded details of the “Chinese donation”, five months after the signing of the donation contract. Shortly after the revelation of Globe and Mail, Justin Trudeau has entrusted the mandate of special rapporteur on Chinese interference to David Johnston, a former member of the Pierre Elliott Trudeau Foundation, who must in particular determine whether there should be a public inquiry into the file of foreign interference . The Prime Minister reiterated his confidence in him on Wednesday, but in the eyes of the opposition, the whole situation reveals a curious closeness between the Liberal Party of Canada and Beijing.
With Katia Gagnon, The Press