Board member of the Pierre Elliott Trudeau Foundation resigned, Edward Johnson, stated the foundation is taking part in an independent investigation into a $200,000 donation connected to China.
The CEO and most of the foundation’s board of directors have already resigned, citing “politicization” and a “corrosive atmosphere.”
“Following a unanimous consensus reached by the board before its dissolution, the Pierre Elliott Trudeau Foundation is launching an independent review of its acceptance of the donation with a potential connection to the Chinese government,” Johnson stated, adding, “This review will be conducted by an accounting firm instructed by a law firm, neither of which was previously involved with the foundation.”
The donation is reportedly affiliated with billionaire Bin Zhang and a Chinese diplomat, who told Zhange to donate $1 million to the Trudeau Foundation.
Reporting from Rebel News:
Seven months into Trudeau's first term as prime minister, Zhang attended a Liberal fundraiser at the Toronto home of Chinese Business Chamber of Canada chair Benson Wong, which Trudeau attended as the guest of honour. Weeks after the fundraiser, the Trudeau Foundation and the University of Montreal announced that Zhang and Niu Gensheng donated $1 million "to honour the memory and leadership" of Pierre Trudeau, who, as prime minister, opened diplomatic relations with China in 1970. Of the $1 million, they pledged $200,000 to the Trudeau Foundation, which provides scholarships, academic fellowships and leadership programs. Outgoing CEO Pascale Fournier said the foundation would return the $140,000 it received from the $200,000 pledge.
