Communist China wanted a statue of infamous Chinese dictator Mao Zedong standing with Prime Minister Pierre Elliot Trudeau in return its donation of $1 million to the Trudeau Foundation, The Globe and Mail reported Tuesday. .The Globe reported extensively on Chinese interference in Canada’s last two federal elections through an anonymous source within the Canadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS). CSIS was also bothered by the close relationship between China and the Trudeau Foundation. .While statues of democratic leaders like founding Canadian Prime Minister Sir John A. Macdonald are being desecrated or torn down in Canada, the Chinese donors, connected to the Chinese government, wanted to erect statues of both Pierre Trudeau and Mao if front of the University of Montreal, where Trudeau studied law. .“They suggested one of Trudeau and Mao together,” Geneviève O’Meara, a spokeswoman for the University of Montreal, told The Globe and Mail. .Mao is recognized by historians as one of the three worst political mass murderers of the 20th century. He was responsible for the deaths of tens of millions through executions, slave labor and manufactured famine. .Chinese billionaire Zhang Bin was the intermediary who supplied the $1 million but was told by a Chinese diplomat that he would receive full reimbursement from the Chinese government, according to the report. CSIS monitored that conversation in its efforts to identify China’s consistent attempts to interfere in Canadian government and elections, according to The Globe. .China wanted to honour Trudeau because the late prime minister reached out to the dictatorship early in his years in power. Trudeau travelled to Beijing in 1973 to be the first Canadian prime minister to meet with Mao. The two famously shook hands and discussed issues of mutual concern, including agriculture and world peace — China had just gone through the sanguinary Cultural Revolution. .When Mao died in 1976 Trudeau eulogized the despot in the House of Commons, saying, “Though our social and political systems differ, Canadians recognize the path-breaking spirit of community that, under Chairman Mao’s guidance, has contributed to the modernization of China.” .The University of Montreal eventually decided not to erect a statue of Mao. “Obviously, since Mao had no connection to the university, that suggestion was not an option for us,” she told The Globe. .Former Canadian Ambassador to China David Mulroney told the media outlet, “Including Mao was designed to be something of a twofer.".The statue “would be abhorrent to Canadians,” he said. Its suggestion “reflects the China-centric thinking and focus of even seemingly worldly Chinese tycoons.” .Mulroney told the House of Commons Standing Committee on Procedure and House Affairs on Feb. 7, 2023 that China stops at very little when it aims to advance its global agenda and national interests. . “I’ve followed your discussions carefully and have heard some members ask why we are focusing on China. It's because China is a formidable military and economic power that, as a matter of policy, infiltrates and undermines organizations abroad perceived to be a threat to the Communist Party; it's because China is also the focus of concerns about political interference in the U.S., the U.K., Australia and New Zealand; it's because I believe that Beijing’s ambitions and capabilities are growing; and it's because many of the victims of PRC interference in Canada are members of Han Chinese, Uighur and Tibetan diaspora communities that Beijing threatens with seeming impunity." .“Beijing’s tools include bribery, disinformation, collusion with criminal gangs and the ever-present threat of hostage-taking. It is increasingly sophisticated in its intimidation of elected officials who dare to speak the truth to Canadians.”
