The Pierre Elliott Trudeau Foundation misled Canadians by saying a controversial donation by two Chinese businessmen was a Canadian donation, the foundation’s former president told lawmakers on Friday.
Pascale Fournier testified before the House of Commons Ethics Committee that her predecessor, Morris Rosenberg, told the National Post in December 2016 that the foundation did not consider the donation to be foreign money because it was made by a Canadian-incorporated company.
“This was a statement on behalf of the foundation that it was not foreign money, it was Canadian money,” Fournier told MPs. “That was also in the annual report. China is mentioned in the tax receipt itself.
“So, I think that’s something that’s misleading for Canadians.”
However, Rosenberg said he had not intentionally misled anyone about the donation and would welcome a public inquiry into the matter.
“I absolutely deny that I ever had any intention of misleading anyone about anything,” Rosenberg told CBC News. “Anyone who knows me knows that I work to a very high level of ethics.”
Rosenberg, who is expected to testify before the committee on Tuesday, said the only communication he has received from the foundation since the controversy erupted was a text message in early March quoting the press release about the donation’s return.
“Given that all of this happened under my supervision, no one has ever asked me what’s going on,” Rosenberg said. “No one has ever asked me to come in and look at any of these documents.”
Fournier’s testimony is the latest twist in a complicated story involving a $200,000 donation to the foundation – $60,000 of which was never transferred. Because the donation was made to fund conferences on Canada-China relations that were never held, Fournier said the money was never spent.
More light on the donation is expected to be shed on Wednesday when Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s brother, Alexandre Trudeau, who has a stake in the foundation, is due to testify.
Pierre Trudeau’s son, Alexandre Trudeau, after announcing the first grants and fellowships from the Trudeau Foundation in February 2003. (CBC)
Speaking to reporters in New York City, the prime minister said his brother has been involved with the foundation for years and will answer MPs’ questions.
“This is my brother,” he said. “I love him very much, but he does his things and I do mine.”
In the House of Commons, the Prime Minister has repeatedly said he has not been involved with the foundation, which bears his father’s name, for a decade and was not involved at the time of the donation.
The committee voted Friday to request documents from the Trudeau Foundation and also to request testimony from Edward Johnson, a founding member of the foundation and former aide to Pierre Trudeau. According to Fournier, the foundation reportedly asked the committee for permission to testify.
On Friday, Fournier told MPs she had looked into previous emails related to the 2016 donation attributed to two Chinese businessmen – Bin Zhang and Niu Gensheng – after news reports earlier this year raised questions about whether the Donation was made on behalf of the Chinese government.
“Headed” by Beijing
Fournier said the emails showed the foundation corresponded with the Chinese Cultural Industry Association, which told the foundation what name should appear on tax receipts for the donation and where they should be sent.
When asked by NDP MP Matthew Green about the role played by Bin Zhang, Fournier said he was linked to the Chinese Cultural Industry Association, which corresponded with the foundation about the donation.
“What struck me was that he was the chairman of the board of this China-based association,” Fournier said. “This association was related to the [Chinese] government, he was the chairman of this association and he was one of the donors.”
Fournier was asked if the unification was an extension of the Chinese government. “There was a very strong closeness,” she said.
“I don’t know if I would say extension but it was clearly under the guidance I think was the phrase used on their website. Under the guidance of the government.”
Fournier said her research also revealed that one receipt was in the name of one company – Millennium Golden Eagle – with an address in China, the second in the name of the same company but with an address in Quebec.
CBC News research of corporate filings shows that Millennium Golden Eagle (Canada) was incorporated at the federal level on April 20, 2012. The first files show two directors: Bin Zhang, with an address in Beijing and a phone number in China; and Guojun Hu, then residing in Brossard, Que. was also listed as the company address.
The company’s articles of incorporation state that meetings of the company’s stockholders “may be held outside of Canada in China.”
Subsequent filings showed the company’s registered address as a mansion in Dorval, Que. which Zhang bought in October 2012. This mansion is still listed as the company’s address, but recent filings with the Quebec government list Zhang’s Beijing address.
The board split over the call to probe: Fournier
Fournier told MPs that her calls for an investigation by lawyers and accountants, and asking directors on the board at the time of the donation to step away from the case, led to a split on the foundation’s board and their resignation, along with those of several boards members.
Fournier said the donation agreement was signed before she joined the foundation, but the story prompted her to dig deeper.
Green asked if it could be concluded that the Chinese government had influenced the negotiations about the donation.
“Possibly,” Fournier replied. “So I wanted an unqualified forensic review to understand what happened before I became President and CEO of the Foundation.”
Fournier said the foundation decided to return the donation before realizing the cultural association may have had ties to the Chinese government.
Fournier testified that between March 1 and March 23, the foundation attempted to deliver the $140,000 reimbursement check to the donor, but was unsuccessful. She did not say whether the attempt to return the donation was made in Canada or in China.
Rosenberg said he doesn’t remember the foundation doing its own donor screening at the time because the University of Montreal found the donors and the foundation “came after.”
Rosenberg said the donation followed an earlier donation by the same two businessmen to the University of Toronto and came at a time when relations between Canada and China were warming.
“As for the Trudeau Foundation, the donation to conferences on a specific theme — China-Canada relations, China in the world — was very consistent with one of its overarching themes, which is Canada’s role in the world,” Rosenberg said. “We didn’t think there was anything unusual about that, nor did the University of Montreal.”
A man makes his way to the meeting of the House of Commons’ Access to Information, Privacy and Ethics Committee on Parliament Hill in Ottawa, Monday, July 12, 2021. (Adrian Wyld/The Canadian Press)
On April 12, Edward Johnson, chairman of the foundation, announced that the foundation would consider the donation.
“Following a unanimous consensus reached by the board prior to its dissolution, the Pierre Elliott Trudeau Foundation is launching an independent review of its acceptance of the donation with a possible link to the Chinese government,” he wrote in a statement at the time. “This review is being conducted by an auditing firm engaged by a law firm, none of which have previously been associated with the foundation.”
Rosenberg, who said he told the foundation from the start that he was only willing to serve a four-year term, said he wanted to get to the bottom of what was happening.
“I would really welcome an independent investigation into this because it tarnishes people’s reputations, including the foundation. And I think it would be a shame if the foundation didn’t continue its work,” he said.
“It did a very, very good job and helped a great many people, some of whom came from poorer backgrounds, who would never have been able to do the research that they did.”
Elizabeth Thompson can be reached at [email protected]