(Ottawa) Canadian intelligence services have never raised a red flag to signal a possible attempt to interfere by China in Canada through the Pierre Elliott Trudeau Foundation, insisted its interim president and CEO , Edward Johnson.
The charity’s representative’s testimony before a Commons committee on Tuesday was consistent with that of former leader Morris Rosenberg and Sacha Trudeau: he too argued that the Foundation had no blameless, denied Pascale Fournier’s version of events and questioned, although more subtly than Justin Trudeau’s brother, the work of the media.
In his opening statement, Edward Johnson regretted that due to the crisis that erupted, the organization had to deal with “undesirable and unjustified attacks”. Yet “CSIS [Service canadien du renseignement de sécurité] has never raised a red flag” in terms of interference, he argued before the Standing Committee on Access to Information, Privacy and Ethics.
To Tory MP Michael Barrett, who asked him how he could be convinced that the Chinese regime had no intention of using the Foundation as a vehicle for interference, he replied with a jab at the daily The Globe and Mail, who reported on these allegations. “My position is that there was never an opportunity for the ‘so-called’ interference operation to take place,” he pleaded.
Bloc member René Villemure asked him how the committee could reconcile his version and that of the former president and chief executive officer, Pascale Fournier. The latter, who resigned from her post in the wake of the Chinese donation affair, launched an attack in good standing against her former colleagues during her appearance before the same committee.
“I can’t explain it, and I’m sorry. I can’t speak for her. But I know what is happening at the Foundation at the moment, and that makes me optimistic,” he replied in French. He had earlier assured that the selection process for the next cohort of scholars was underway and thanked his “wonderful and enthusiastic” team.