Trudeau Foundation CEO, board of directors resign over 'politicization' of Chinese donation

The entire board of directors for the Pierre Elliott Trudeau Foundation has jointly resigned, citing the politicization of a questionable 2016 donation from Chinese billionaires.

Foundation President and CEO Pascale Fournier broke the news in a statement on its website early Tuesday confirming the scathing announcement.

"In recent weeks, the political climate surrounding a donation received by the foundation in 2016 has put a great deal of pressure on the foundation's management and volunteer board of directors, as well as on our staff and our community," read the statement.

"The circumstances created by the politicization of the foundation have made it impossible to continue with the status quo, and the volunteer board of directors has resigned, as has the president and CEO."

Fournier added that three directors will remain on an interim basis to ensure the organization meets its obligations.

As first reported by the Globe and Mail, Chinese philanthropists Zhang Bin and Niu Gensheng donated $200,000 to the foundation — of which they received $140,000 — supposedly as part of a Chinese plot by Beijing to curry favour with Liberal leader Justin Trudeau.

Canadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS) captured a conversation between a Chinese diplomat and Zhang, who instructed him to donate $1 million to the Foundation. The diplomat said Beijing would reimburse him for the entire amount.

The Globe did not disclose its unnamed national security source who reported on the alleged plot because they risk prosecution under the Security of Information Act.

The Prime Minister's Office (PMO) said on January 30 that Trudeau "withdrew his involvement in the affairs of the foundation for the duration of his involvement in federal politics," which Fournier confirmed.

Last month, Fournier said the foundation decided to return the donation.

"As an independent, non-partisan charity, ethics and integrity are among our core values. We cannot keep any donation that may have been sponsored by a foreign government and would not knowingly do so," she wrote.

"In light of these recent allegations, the Foundation has refunded all amounts received concerning the donation pledge to the donor."

The Globe also reported the two Chinese billionaires attended a Liberal fundraiser in Toronto seven months into Trudeau's first term as prime minister. In the coming weeks, Zhang and Gensheng pledged $800,000 to the University of Montreal "to honour the memory and leadership" of Pierre Trudeau, who, as prime minister, opened diplomatic relations with China in 1970.

Of the $800,000 pledge, the university told the Canadian Press that owing to relations between Canada and China, they only received $550,000 to create scholarships on behalf of the two businessmen. The university has not announced whether it will keep or return the donation.

The continued saga of the Foundation persists with Trudeau's chief of staff, Katie Telford, set to appear before a parliamentary committee on Friday to discuss alleged Chinese interference in the 2019 and 2021 federal elections.

The PMO confirmed Telford would testify at the Procedure and House Affairs Committee after Ottawa launched a filibuster last month spanning several meetings to prevent Telford from being compelled to speak.

The office added that an exact time had yet to be scheduled.

At the time of the filibuster, NDP leader Jagmeet Singh said his party would back a Conservative motion to mandate that Telford testify if the government didn't voluntarily agree.

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