The former CEO of the Trudeau Foundation, Pascale Fournier, found suspicious the Chinese donation of 2016 which sparked a controversy, and said he slammed the door of the organization in April after being prevented from carrying out his investigation according to its terms.
“It was foreign money. It was not Canadian money, like what is written in the annual report, when in fact it came from China. I think that was misleading Canadians,” testified Ms.me Fournier before a parliamentary committee in Ottawa on Friday.
The one who is also a full professor at the Faculty of Law at the University of Ottawa explained that she began to examine the details of the donation of $ 200,000 made publicly by two Chinese businessmen after the publication of an article in the daily The Globe and Mail in February.
This article reported that these donors were acting under the authority of the Chinese government and that they were intended to influence the Liberal leader, Justin Trudeau, according to intelligence reports to which The duty did not have access.
The University of Montreal was the primary goal of a $1 million donation from two wealthy Chinese businessmen, Zhang Bin and Niu Gensheng, to honor Pierre Elliott Trudeau by funding scholarships. The Pierre-Elliott-Trudeau Foundation came into the picture when it reached an agreement for the use of the name of the former prime minister.
Doubtful receipts
In office since July 2018, the president and chief executive officer of the Pierre-Elliott-Trudeau Foundation says she realized that her employees did not correspond directly with donors, but rather with an organization close to the Chinese government. She says the China Cultural Industry Association told them what information to release publicly about the donation, which was made before she took office.
“An association in China asked the employees of the foundation to register certain information, [comme] not to put the address of the donors, please put the address in China”, testified the ex-CEO
Pascale Fournier also said that the receipts issued upon receipt of the first two installments of the donation, of $70,000 each, were not identical. On one of them, the names of the donors were not mentioned, but rather a company based in China. She criticized her predecessor, Morris Rosenberg, for portraying the donation as entirely Canadian.
The last installment of the donation was never received or requested, says Ms.me Fournier, since the purpose of the donation, which is to organize conferences about China, was never accomplished. The donors would never have complained about it, which she says finds “strange”.
CA dispute
According to the version of the facts of the former CEO, a major conflict broke out within the board of directors of the Pierre-Elliott-Trudeau Foundation when it undertook to conduct its own investigation into this donation in hiring an outside law firm. With the help of other trustees, she wanted to remove the chairman of the board and other officials who were present when the donation was obtained.
After acrimonious disputes, the entire board of directors resigned en bloc, including Pascale Fournier, on April 10, Easter Monday.
“There was a breakdown in the bond of trust with the members of the board of directors who were asked to recuse themselves,” she explained.
Mme Fournier also spoke of his incomprehension to see the signature of Alexandre Trudeau, the Prime Minister’s brother, on the donation contract. According to her, it was up to the president to put his signature on all donations under $1 million, and she said she had not seen a mandate given to Mr. Trudeau to replace him.
“We realize that the Trudeau Foundation is something that is a bit messy, we have hidden a lot of things from the President and CEO, and the reasons for which we are hiding them, I am very intrigued”, commented Bloc Québécois MP René Villemure on leaving the committee.
“The first thing we remember is that Professor Fournier indicated that there was no link between the foundation and the Prime Minister or his staff, and that is very important because people , some media or some political parties are trying to confuse the two,” said Liberal Quebec MP Greg Fergus, also a member of the committee.
The elected members of the committee decided to invite the ex-president who was allegedly asked to step down, Edward Johnson, to come and testify before the committee. They also asked Alexandre Trudeau to come and give his version of the facts, next Wednesday, after a call from the latter in the pages of the Duty. Morris Rosenberg is due to appear on Tuesday.