At the centre of the controversy is a 2016 donation from two donors with links to the Chinese government. The donors pledged $200,000 to the foundation at the time.
While the donation spurred an initial controversy in 2016, interest in the story revived in the wake of recent media reports stating Beijing interfered in the 2019 and 2021 federal elections. The foundation said it would reimburse the funds but apparently ran into administrative roadblocks. (Radio-Canada has confirmed the donation has since been returned.)
The foundation said last week’s resignations were in response to the latest controversy about the donation.
“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,” a statement from the foundation said.
But reports from the Globe and Mail and La Presse suggest the resignations stemmed from the foundation’s handling of the donation.
The controversy has also spilled into the halls of Parliament.
Last week’s resignations only spurred more outrage from the opposition, with both Conservatives and Bloc Québécois MPs calling for investigations of the foundation. Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre wrote to the Canada Revenue Agency asking it to “launch a fulsome audit” of the foundation, with a focus on donations the charity received from foreign governments.
On Friday, the foundation itself asked the auditor general to probe the 2016 donation.
Here’s what we know about the organization at the centre of the controversy.
What does it do?
The foundation was established in 2001 to honour the former prime minister, who died in 2000. In 2002, the federal government endowed it with $125 million to help fund its core operations. It also accepts private donations. The foundation describes itself as an independent and nonpartisan charity.
The foundation helps fund and promote academic and public interest research. It awards up to 20 doctoral scholarships each year and finances up to five research fellowships. It also supports a network of “mentors” to help young academics and organizes public events, such as book launches and lectures on public policy issues.
These mentors — who have included former Supreme Court justices, current and former politicians, journalists and business leaders — receive an honorarium and travel costs during their term.
Where does its money come from?
As part of the 2002 agreement with the federal government, the foundation cannot spend the $125 million endowment. Instead, it was invested; only income earned from returns on the investment can fund the foundation’s activities.
According to its 2021-22 charity filings with the CRA, the organization earned millions of dollars in revenue from returns on its investments. It raked in less than a million dollars in donations.
Who runs the foundation?
The foundation has two primary governing bodies: the membership team and the board of directors.
The members are responsible for appointing board members and changing bylaws, while the board is more involved with the management activities of the foundation.
Most of the board of directors and its president, Pascale Fournier — who herself is a former recipient of a Trudeau scholarship — resigned last week.
The foundation said three board members will stay on until new ones can be selected.
Trudeau reacts to CEO, board resignations at Trudeau Foundation
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau says the foundation will continue to make a positive impact on academic institutions across the country.
When he was asked recently about the foundation, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau insisted he no longer has any ties to the organization bearing his father’s name.
Trudeau was directly involved in the foundation from its creation in 2002 until 2014, after he was elected leader of the Liberal Party.
“The Trudeau Foundation is a foundation with which I have absolutely no intersection,” Trudeau told a news conference Tuesday.
But the prime minister’s brother, Alexandre Trudeau, is currently one of the foundation’s members.
Pierre Trudeau’s son, Alexandre Trudeau, after announcing the first Trudeau Foundation scholars and fellowships in February 2003. (CBC)
Some members are people who were close to Pierre Trudeau, such as his former principal secretary Thomas Axworthy and senior economic adviser Denise Chong.
The board of directors also has had members who were close to the former prime minister — including his daughter Sarah Coyne, who was one the members who resigned last week.
The list of resignations also includes a wide range of academics, lawyers, former civil servants, and business leaders.
Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau and Alberta Premier Peter Lougheed were two political giants who squared off over the National Energy Policy in the early ’80s. Lougheed would later sit on the Trudeau Foundation’s board of directors. (The Canadian Press)
Well-known Canadians have served on the board in the past, including Peter Lougheed and Bill Davis, former conservative premiers of Alberta and Ontario.
Former NDP MP Megan Leslie and former Conservative cabinet minister Chuck Strahl also have been board members, although Strahl resigned in 2016 during the initial donation controversy.
The foundation says directors and members serve on a voluntary basis. According to its CRA filings, the foundation has 13 full-time and three part-time administrative staff.
Who else has been affiliated with the foundation?
The foundation appears to attract mentors from all walks of life. Civil servants, journalists, academics, activists and authors have all been mentors to the foundation’s scholars.
Former Supreme Court justices Beverly McLachlin, Louise Arbour, Marie Deschamps, Thomas Cromwell and Frank Iacobucci were mentors in the past. The latter two were nominated by Conservative prime ministers Stephen Harper and Brian Mulroney.
Federal, provincial and municipal politicians of all political stripes have also been mentors.
Many of the former politicians who have signed up to mentor Trudeau scholars in the past are associated with the Liberal Party, such as former cabinet ministers Anne McLellan and Pierre Pettigrew.
The great debate, left to right, Ed Broadbent, Pierre Trudeau and Joe Clark, May 13, 1979. Broadbent was a mentor to a Trudeau scholar in 2010. (Peter Bregg/The Canadian Press)
Former Conservative cabinet minister and senator Michael Fortier was a mentor as well. So was Strahl before he became a member of the foundation’s board.
Other past mentors include former NDP leader Ed Broadbent, former NDP premiers Tony Penikett and Michael Harcourt and current Green Party co-leader Elizabeth May.
One of the foundation’s former presidents, Pierre-Gerlier Forest, was appointed president of Quebec’s public health agency — Institut national de santé publique du Québec — by the provincial government in 2022.
Quebec legislature member Youri Chassin has announced he’s leaving the Coalition Avenir Québec government to sit as an Independent.
He announced the decision shortly after writing an open letter criticizing Premier François Legault’s government for abandoning its principles of smaller government.
In the letter published in Le Journal de Montréal and Le Journal de Québec, Chassin accused the party of falling back on what he called the old formula of throwing money at problems instead of looking to do things differently.
Chassin says public services are more fragile than ever, despite rising spending that pushed the province to a record $11-billion deficit projected in the last budget.
He is the second CAQ member to leave the party in a little more than one week, after economy and energy minister Pierre Fitzgibbon announced Sept. 4 he would leave because he lost motivation to do his job.
Chassin says he has no intention of joining another party and will instead sit as an Independent until the end of his term.
He has represented the Saint-Jérôme riding since the CAQ rose to power in 2018, but has not served in cabinet.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 12, 2024.
MONTREAL – NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh says he will not be taking advice from Pierre Poilievre after the Conservative leader challenged him to bring down government.
“I say directly to Pierre Poilievre: I’m not going to listen to you,” said Singh on Wednesday, accusing Poilievre of wanting to take away dental-care coverage from Canadians, among other things.
“I’m not going to listen to your advice. You want to destroy people’s lives, I want to build up a brighter future.”
Earlier in the day, Poilievre challenged Singh to commit to voting non-confidence in the government, saying his party will force a vote in the House of Commons “at the earliest possibly opportunity.”
“I’m asking Jagmeet Singh and the NDP to commit unequivocally before Monday’s byelections: will they vote non-confidence to bring down the costly coalition and trigger a carbon tax election, or will Jagmeet Singh sell out Canadians again?” Poilievre said.
“It’s put up or shut up time for the NDP.”
While Singh rejected the idea he would ever listen to Poilievre, he did not say how the NDP would vote on a non-confidence motion.
“I’ve said on any vote, we’re going to look at the vote and we’ll make our decision. I’m not going to say our decision ahead of time,” he said.
Singh’s top adviser said on Tuesday the NDP leader is not particularly eager to trigger an election, even as the Conservatives challenge him to do just that.
Anne McGrath, Singh’s principal secretary, says there will be more volatility in Parliament and the odds of an early election have risen.
“I don’t think he is anxious to launch one, or chomping at the bit to have one, but it can happen,” she said in an interview.
New Democrat MPs are in a second day of meetings in Montreal as they nail down a plan for how to navigate the minority Parliament this fall.
The caucus retreat comes one week after Singh announced the party has left the supply-and-confidence agreement with the governing Liberals.
It’s also taking place in the very city where New Democrats are hoping to pick up a seat on Monday, when voters go to the polls in Montreal’s LaSalle—Émard—Verdun. A second byelection is being held that day in the Winnipeg riding of Elmwood—Transcona, where the NDP is hoping to hold onto a seat the Conservatives are also vying for.
While New Democrats are seeking to distance themselves from the Liberals, they don’t appear ready to trigger a general election.
Singh signalled on Tuesday that he will have more to say Wednesday about the party’s strategy for the upcoming sitting.
He is hoping to convince Canadians that his party can defeat the federal Conservatives, who have been riding high in the polls over the last year.
Singh has attacked Poilievre as someone who would bring back Harper-style cuts to programs that Canadians rely on, including the national dental-care program that was part of the supply-and-confidence agreement.
The Canadian Press has asked Poilievre’s office whether the Conservative leader intends to keep the program in place, if he forms government after the next election.
With the return of Parliament just days away, the NDP is also keeping in mind how other parties will look to capitalize on the new makeup of the House of Commons.
The Bloc Québécois has already indicated that it’s written up a list of demands for the Liberals in exchange for support on votes.
The next federal election must take place by October 2025 at the latest.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 11, 2024.
Montreal Mayor Valérie Plante is defending her decision to turn off comments on her social media accounts — with an announcement on social media.
She posted screenshots to X this morning of vulgar names she’s been called on the platform, and says comments on her posts for months have been dominated by insults, to the point that she decided to block them.
Montreal’s Opposition leader and the Canadian Civil Liberties Association have criticized Plante for limiting freedom of expression by restricting comments on her X and Instagram accounts.
They say elected officials who use social media should be willing to hear from constituents on those platforms.
However, Plante says some people may believe there is a fundamental right to call someone offensive names and to normalize violence online, but she disagrees.
Her statement on X is closed to comments.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 11, 2024.
