What exactly is the Pierre Elliott Trudeau Foundation? It is a charitable organization whose mission is to award scholarships related to themes dear to the former Prime Minister, including “human rights and [la] human dignity “.
Now, the $200,000 question: what interest does a dictatorship like China have in raining dollars on an organization whose objectives include promoting human rights?
Don’t tell me that, all of a sudden, this authoritarian and terribly repressive regime is thirsty for more justice and democracy throughout the world. So what ?
So, an explanation emerges, always a little more precisely over the course of journalistic investigations: after Justin Trudeau became leader of the Liberal Party of Canada in 2013, China tried to put him in his pocket by making a donated $200,000 to the foundation that bears his father’s name.
This donation, like that of $800,000 promised to the law faculty of the University of Montreal – a statue of Trudeau senior as a bonus – is clearly part of Beijing’s multiple attempts to interfere in Canadian political affairs.
Justin Trudeau defends himself: for 10 years, he has not been involved in the affairs of the Trudeau Foundation. He never knew anything about this “Chinese gift” story.
As early as November 2016, however, the Prime Minister’s Office wanted to know more about this famous donation, revealed an exchange of emails brought to light by The Press this week.
Perhaps the Prime Minister’s Office simply checked in with the Foundation to be ready to respond to the media, who were already asking questions. But all the same, this Chinese wall between the Trudeau Foundation and the Prime Minister? Not so waterproof, it seems.
On its website, the Trudeau Foundation describes itself as an “independent, non-politically affiliated charitable organization, created in 2001 to pay tribute to the former prime minister.”
I really want to believe in the independence of this foundation. The fact remains that it bears the name of the current Prime Minister. And that Beijing saw fit to make a substantial donation there when Trudeau Jr. was about to take power.
You have to be naive to see it as a coincidence.
According to Globe and Mailthe Canadian Security Intelligence Service intercepted a conversation showing that as early as 2014, Beijing was plotting to flatter the Liberal leader in the direction of the hair.
In this conversation, a Chinese diplomat asked Zhang Bin, a wealthy businessman, to fund the Trudeau Foundation. The donation, the diplomat promised, would be refunded to him.
The Trudeau Foundation was obviously unaware of this conversation in 2016. Still, it accepted the donation with far too much eagerness.
At the time, it had to be approved in a hurry, it seems. We didn’t have much time to check where all those handsome dollars came from. We had to sign the contract. It was Alexandre Trudeau, brother of the Prime Minister, who concluded the agreement.
Have the directors of the Foundation been overly naïve? How could they agree to issue a tax receipt in the name of a company while allocating the donation to other donors?
On Friday, the chairman of the Foundation’s board of directors, Edward Johnson, asked the Auditor General of Canada to carry out an audit on its management of donations. So much the better. It is imperative to shed light on this scandal.
For the moment, the information is coming to us in bits and pieces, as journalistic investigations lift the veil on the “stink bomb” which caused the Trudeau Foundation to implode, resulting in the resignation of eight directors and four members of senior management.
Finally, the University of Montreal will never have erected a statue in memory of Pierre Elliott Trudeau. Nor will it have erected a statue in memory of… Mao Zedong, as its generous Chinese donors had initially wished.
At the time, UdeM refused outright. This was pushing the envelope too far. True, the Grand Helmsman received Pierre Elliott Trudeau in China. But the communist leader is much better known for his Great Leap Forward, responsible for the death of 45 million Chinese. And for its cultural revolution, during which millions of other Chinese were persecuted…
Imagine if the University of Montreal, in the name of friendship between peoples, had erected a statue of Mao on its campus. Imagine the scandal…
But a “Chinese donation” of $800,000 in 2016 was not outrageous. This donation was even announced, publicized, celebrated. An official photo shows the then rector, Guy Breton, all smiles, surrounded by Alexandre Trudeau and several Chinese businessmen and diplomats.
Since then, the tide has turned. Meng Wanzhou, chief financial officer of Huawei, was detained in Canada at the request of the United States, which demanded her extradition. In retaliation, China held Canadians Michael Spavor and Michael Kovrig hostage.
Justin Trudeau, who confessed his admiration for the Chinese dictatorship in 2013, ended up losing his naivety. Gone are the days when we imagined that collaboration with China would lead to a democratic transition. Relations between the two countries have darkened.
In fact, the more time passes, the more China is perceived as a threat. We ended up understanding that Xi Jinping, this president who maintains the cult of personality and who does not support any dissent, was the worthy heir of Mao Zedong.
He doesn’t deserve a statue.
He does not deserve more than one accepts his money.
Friday, after multiple attempts worthy of a strange vaudeville, the Trudeau Foundation was finally able to return the embarrassing donation to its sender.
It’s almost a pity. I liked the suggestion of Bloc Québécois MP Alexis Brunelle-Duceppe, faced with the apparent impossibility of returning the check to Beijing: “Why not give it to the victims of this same regime? Uyghurs or Tibetans in exile, for example. »
Thus, the Trudeau Foundation could have truly fulfilled its mission of defending human rights.