There was no investigation into the Chinese donation received by the Pierre Elliott Trudeau Foundation

This decision is consistent with the authority given to the Auditor General under the Auditor General Act, and we are reviewing the terms of the Endowment Agreement between the Government of Canada and the Trust.Referring to the office of Karen Hogan, who serves as Auditor General.

In that letter, the Auditor General’s order specifically, Audit any organization that receives a public grant of $1 million or more under a funding agreement with the Government of Canada.

However, the file that has made headlines in recent weeks concerns a $140,000 donation made in 2016 by Zhang Bin, head of the Cultural Industry Association, which is close to the Chinese government, and Niu Zhensheng, a Chinese businessman and philanthropist.

Regarding private donations […]Any audit work that the Office of the Auditor General may undertake will be limited to determining whether the Foundation received and used these donations in accordance with the Endowment Agreement with the Government of Canada.Encloses letter from the Office of the Auditor General of Canada.

” It is not the Auditor General’s responsibility to investigate the origin of private donations, the identity of other donors or their possible motivations. »

Trudeau has called for an investigation into the administration of the donation by the foundation’s interim CEO. After the newspaper published the matter, a section of the trust’s CA resigned. Tea Globe and Email.

The eight members who resigned justified their gesture by explaining that politicization of the issue had made the status quo within the organization impossible.

After some uncertainty, the Chinese donation was finally repaid, with a check issued in the name of The Golden Eagle of the Millennium, an organization headed by billionaire Zhang Bin.

The 2016 meeting makes the resistance jump

According to published information there PressThe Trudeau Foundation reportedly held a meeting with five deputy ministers of the Trudeau government in 2016 at the Prime Minister’s Office on Parliament Hill and the Privy Council office building known as Langevin Block.

It was enough to draw the ire of the Conservatives and the Bloc during Question Time on Monday.

Even though two foundation donors paid for his vacation, the Prime Minister wants us to believe that he chose two former leaders to lead an investigation into foreign interference, and that the foundation received money from Beijing… and now the foundation is holding meetings in its office! Doesn’t he know that too?Conservative leader Pierre Poilievre began.

To that, Mark Holland, the leader of the House government, brought together public service officials in this meeting in 2016, and Mr. Trudeau responded that he was not participating.

But as usual, I see the Tory leader wielding the biggest club possible and worrying little about the potential damage.he added.

Constituency member Alain Therrien has also decided to jump into the fray: We wondered why China was so interested in getting close to the Trudeau Foundation… In 2016, when China was writing it a big cheque, the foundation held a meeting with five deputy ministers directly in the Prime Minister’s office!

Does he ignore what is happening in his own office or take Quebecers for granted?MP

I reject the premise of the question, Mr. Holland replied. It is ridiculous to think that China or any other country can influence our government. It is clear that all MPs are loyal to our country.

With information by Louis Blouin