“Canada’s China Class”

A businessman whose reported donations to the Pierre Elliott Trudeau Foundation led to the resignation of its CEO is the president of a Chinese cultural organization that says it operates under the authority of the communist government.

Surely, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau now realizes that his self-appointed “special rapporteur” and life-long friend, David Johnston, isn’t going to solve his problems when Johnston advises him by May 23 whether he should hold a public inquiry into alleged interference by Beijing in the last two federal elections.

The Trudeau Liberals are as committed as ever to the shameless argument that the scandal is not Chinese interference into Canadian affairs, but the fact that China’s meddling was revealed to the public. It is a tactic that can’t withstand anyone looking too closely, or facts getting in the way, as was the case with the Pierre Elliott Trudeau Foundation this week.

The charity said Wednesday that it would conduct an investigation into a $200,000 donation allegedly made on behalf of the Chinese government in an apparent attempt at influencing Justin Trudeau. That announcement came after the CEO and the entire board of directors of the foundation resigned, and after the Liberals tried to blame “Conservative” attacks for the upheaval.

On Sept. 29, 1972, a story appeared on the front page of The Washington Post that began as follows: “John N. Mitchell, while serving as U.S. Attorney General, personally controlled a secret Republican fund that was used to gather information about the Democrats, according to sources involved in the Watergate investigation.”

Not “allegedly.” Not “reputedly.” The story flat out accuses the chief law enforcement officer of the United States government of running a political espionage operation on the side, with the obvious implication that this might have included the Watergate break-in.

Within the next month, Katie Telford will gain a new distinction — she will be the longest serving chief of staff to any Canadian prime minister since the position was created in the late 1970s.

It might not be how Telford would have predicted things would turn out when she first met Justin Trudeau almost 17 years ago in Toronto, but much about their working relationship has hinged on what wasn’t exactly expected.

Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre is criticizing former governor general David Johnston for his previous membership with the Pierre Elliot Trudeau Foundation, which has received funding from the Chinese regime in the past.

Johnston was recently appointed “independent special rapporteur” by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to investigate Chinese interference in Canada’s elections.

The Pierre Elliott Trudeau Foundation says it will be launching an independent review of the organization’s acceptance of a donation “with a potential connection to the Chinese government.”

The foundation’s board reached this unanimous decision prior to dissolution, according to board chair Edward Johnson.

“This review will be conducted by an accounting firm instructed by a law firm, neither of which were previously involved with the Foundation,” Johnson said in a statement to CTV News.

The taxpayer-backed Pierre Elliott Trudeau Foundation was plunged into crisis in March, several weeks after the Globe and Mail reported that a major 2016 donation ultimately came from the Chinese state rather than a Beijing billionaire, according to an internal document obtained by La Presse.

Shortly after the Globe story broke, the foundation publicly announced it would return $140,000 to the Chinese benefactor.

Canada has been rocked in recent weeks by leaks indicating the government knew about Chinese meddling in recent elections. A Feb. 17 report in the Globe and Mail newspaper suggests that Beijing was actively meddling in Canada’s democracy at every level: federal, provincial and municipal. The leaks also reveal that Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s government has responded to reports of interference with obstruction, obfuscation and only minor concessions.

… Does not Mr. Johnston see that both the ties of friendship with the family, and his heading an organization exclusively set up to honour the prime minister’s father, are at the very least cause for a perception of conflict of interest?

He knows, he just doesn’t give a shit. Not that it matters as everyone knows it’s a pointless pantomime of transparency.

The China interference story has ‘long legs, and some twists and turns.’ The Liberals should be ‘quite concerned because if the current Conservative advantage consolidates and the longer the numbers stay here, it becomes the new normal, and it will require more effort to dislodge the trend line,’ says pollster Nik Nanos.