President & CEO, along with entire board resign in the wake of reports of Communist China’s election interference and donations linked to the Communist State.
In a shocking turn of events, the entire Trudeau Foundation Board of Directors has resigned. All of them.
Pascale Fournier – President & CEO of the Trudeau Foundation – has also resigned.
Here’s what the Trudeau Foundation said in a statement:
“In recent weeks, the political climate surrounding a donation received by the Foundation in 2016 has put a great deal of pressure on the Foundation’s management and volunteer Board of Directors, as well as on our staff and our community.
The Pierre Elliott Trudeau Foundation is an independent, non-partisan scholarship organization created with broad support in the House of Commons in 2002.
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.
Three directors have agreed to remain on an interim basis so that the Foundation can continue to meet its obligations pending Board renewal, including towards its Scholars, Mentors and Fellows.
We would like to thank Pascale Fournier for her work as President and CEO over the past five years, as well as all the members of the Board of Directors.”
Links to Chinese government
In early March of 2023, the Trudeau Foundation returned a massive donation they say had a potential link to China:
“The Pierre Elliott Trudeau Foundation has learned in recent days through the media that there was a potential connection between the Chinese government and a 2016 pledge of $200,000 to be received by the Foundation.
As an independent, non-partisan charity, ethics and integrity are among our core values and we cannot keep any donation that may have been sponsored by a foreign government and would not knowingly do so.
In light of these recent allegations, the Foundation has refunded to the donor all amounts received with respect to the donation pledge.”
That’s not the only way the Trudeau Foundation has been brought up recently. A report on election interference by China was written by a former Trudeau Foundation CEO.
And Justin Trudeau appointed Trudeau Foundation-connected David Johnston (also his family friend) as the ‘Special Rapporteur,’ a position designed to forestall an inquiry.
This is a shocking moment, because it speaks to how big an impact the China interference scandal continues to have, even as Trudeau attempts to make it go away.
This also makes it beyond clear that David Johnston needs to step away from the Special Rapporteur role, and the role needs to be abolished entirely. Instead, we need a full Independent Public Inquiry. We need to keep the pressure on.
Spencer Fernando
