After receiving a $200,000 donation linked to China, the Trudeau Foundation CEO, president, and board of directors resigned. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau blamed unnamed critics or “those people” for discrediting the taxpayer-subsidized Foundation.. CSIS Headquarters .“Those people who are trying to get short-term political gain by increasing polarization and partisanship in this country by launching completely unfounded and ungrounded attacks against charities or foundations must not succeed,” Trudeau told reporters..“It is a shame to see the level of toxicity and political polarization that is going on in our country these days,” said Trudeau..“But I am certain the Trudeau Foundation will be able to continue.”.The resignation of Foundation management followed a Feb. 28 Globe and Mail disclosure that the Canadian Security Intelligence Service cautioned the Foundation over its 2016 acceptance of a donation from a Chinese billionaire, Zhang Bin..The Foundation returned the money on March 1 and said “ethics and integrity are among our core values.”.READ MORE Trudeau Foundation board of directors, CEO, president resign over $200,000 China donation.“The Trudeau Foundation is a Foundation with which I have absolutely no intersection,” Trudeau said yesterday..“It was established to promote knowledge and academic research into the humanities following the death of my father.”.Parliament in 2002 funded a $125 million endowment for the Foundation, according to Blacklock’s Reporter..“What is a more fitting legacy to the man who symbolized youth, excellence and the innovative spirit?” said then-prime minister Jean Chretien..The Trudeau Foundation was among numerous similar groups that received federal funding at the time, such as Genome Canada, the Asia Pacific Foundation and others..Funding prompted a 2002 report by then-Auditor General Sheila Fraser entitled Placing The Public’s Money Beyond Parliament’s Reach that complained foundations operated with little scrutiny..“Access To Information does not apply to these foundations,” then-Canadian Alliance MP Val Meredith (Surrey-White Rock, BC) told a 2003 Commons Public Accounts committee hearing..“We don’t have any control over what the agreement says, what they do with the money or whether they’re spending it in the way it is supposed to be spent.”.Then-New Democrat MP Pat Martin (Winnipeg Centre, MB) also questioned public funding of foundations..“A lot of us feel those foundations were places where the Liberal government squirrelled away billions and billions of dollars, almost as off-balance-sheet financing out of the perusal of the public accounts committee or the Auditor General,” Martin told a 2006 hearing of the Commons Ethics committee..Opposition Leader Pierre Poilievre on Tuesday in a statement said legislators should review the Trudeau Foundation’s finances..“We need to investigate the Beijing-funded Trudeau Foundation,” said Poilievre..“We need to know who got rich, who got paid and who got privilege and power from Justin Trudeau as a result of funding to the Trudeau Foundation.”
