Contrary to statements made by Liberal politicians and the mainstream media, no mysterious foreign millionaires bankrolled the Freedom Convoy, crowdfunding executives told the House of Commons finance committee on Thursday..Blacklock’s Reporter says evidence disproving the Liberal government claims of six-figure foreign interference came as one Liberal MP theorized Russia may have secretly funded the protest..“We stepped up our donation reviews and proactively did that review of foreign sources,” testified Juan Benitez, president of GoFundMe.“We feel comfortable.”.In his first appearance at the finance committee on March 3, President Benitez said 88% of donations originated in Canada and 86% of donors were Canadian. Findings were based on checks of bank account and credit card records, he said..Donors contributed $10.1 million to the Freedom Convoy before GoFundMe suspended the account on February 4 at the request of Ottawa mayor Jim Watson..The Liberal government repeatedly justified its use of the Emergencies Act against the Freedom Convoy by claiming it was funded by foreign agitators with the goal of overthrowing the 44th Parliament..On February 16, Emergency Preparedness Minister Bill Blair called the convoy “a largely foreign-funded, targeted and coordinated attack which was clearly criminally intended to harm Canada.”.“We cannot leave anyone with the impression our democracy is negotiable or subject to efforts of appeasement,” Blair said. “Canada is a strong and democratic nation. We will not let any foreign entities that seek to harm Canada or Canadians or erode trust in our democratic institutions or question the legitimacy of our democracy.”.On March 17, Benitez repeated his testimony that foreign donations to the Freedom Convoy were insignificant. “There just was not a significant foreign contribution,” he said..Conservative MP Ed Fast (Abbotsford, B.C.). asked if there were any large donors that would have “stuck out” or “raised red flags in terms of perhaps trying to influence the outcome of this protest?”.“We did not discover that, no,” replied Benitez. “As we reviewed the donations we did not identify significant donations or patterns that were there.”.Kim Wilford, general counsel for GoFundMe, testified the largest overall donation was not over five-figures and was not foreign-sourced. “Actually, the largest donation in this campaign was from a Canadian and it was in the amount of $30,000,” said Wilford..Liberal MPs on the finance committee repeatedly questioned the proposed evidence, suggesting GoFundMe failed to consider whether Russian agents could have posed as Canadian bank account holders..“We know Russia and all other money launderers are holding bank accounts in every country under several shell companies,” said MP Sophie Chatel (Pontiac, Que.). “Look, disinformation warfare is absolutely real. There is no doubt in our minds it incites people to donate for causes that are harmful to our democracy,” she said..In response, GoFundMe’s Benitez repeated the Freedom Convoy was primarily funded by small Canadian donors. “We did review the source of donations extensively given the size and impact of this campaign,” said Benitez..Benitez explained that only 12% of donations came from outside of Canada. “There was virtually no, perhaps a handful at most, of donations from Russia. In our opinion, and from the evidence we see, there was just no coordinated effort there to have any kind of contribution or impact.”.Liberal MP Julie Dzerowicz (Davenport, Ont.) cited a Toronto Star story claiming there were large foreign donations. “I do want to put on the record … according to a February 14 Toronto Star article it said ‘nearly 41% of the more than $10.7 million to the Freedom Convoy through an online fundraising site has come from the United States, leaked data suggests,’” she said..“I hope that is not accepted as evidence,” replied MP Fast. “Quoting the Toronto Star is speculation. It is not evidence.”.“The statistics and numbers we are quoting here are the facts of what we observed and processed through the GoFundMe platform,” replied Benitez..Matthew Horwood is a parliamentary reporter for the Western Standard based in Ottawa
