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The head of the Pierre Elliott Trudeau Foundation and its board of directors have resigned, citing the “politicization” of the non-profit organization in the aftermath of returning a large financial gift from a Chinese billionaire.
The foundation returned $140,000 in early March to a wealthy Chinese donor after The Globe and Mail reported that the largesse was part of a Beijing-directed influence operation to curry favour with Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.
“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 foundation said in a statement Tuesday.
It announced that president and CEO Pascale Fournier and its board of directors had submitted their resignations.
Robert Fife and Steven Chase report.
This is the daily Politics Briefing newsletter, usually written by Ian Bailey, but today Janice Dickson is filling it. It is available exclusively to our digital subscribers. If you’re reading this on the web, subscribers can sign up for the Politics newsletter and more than 20 others on our newsletter signup page. Have any feedback? Let us know what you think.
TODAY’S HEADLINES
PRIME MINISTER TRUDEAU’S CHIEF OF STAFF SET TO TESTIFY FRIDAY ON FOREIGN INTERFERENCE: Katie Telford, will appear before a parliamentary committee on Friday. The Prime Minister’s Office says Ms. Telford will testify at the procedure and House affairs committee on the issue of foreign interference in Canadian elections. Story here.
ONTARIO TO LOSE NURSING HOMES AS OWNERS, FACING MANDATORY UPGRADES, OPT TO SELL TO HOUSING DEVELOPERS: For-profit nursing homes in Canada’s largest city are vacating the sector rather than undertaking mandatory upgrades, creating a property sell-off that hinders the Ontario government’s promise of 60,000 new and upgraded beds by 2028. Story here.
PETITION CALLS FOR MEASURES TO PROTECT LONG-TERM CARE RESIDENTS FROM ABUSE: The federal Health Minister is being urged to do more to protect long-term care home residents from abuse, including sexual assault, as the government prepares a law to improve the safety of vulnerable seniors. Story here.
LEAKED DOCUMENTS A ‘VERY SEROIUS’ RISK TO SECURITY, PENTAGON SAYS: The online leaks of scores of highly classified documents about the Ukraine war present a “very serious” risk to U.S. national security, and senior leaders are quickly taking steps to mitigate the damage, a top Pentagon spokesman said Monday. And as the public airing of the data sends shock waves across the U.S. government, the White House said there are concerns there could be additional leaks. Story here.
ALBERTA ETHICS COMMISSIONER INVESTIGATING PREMIER DANIELLE SMITH OVER POSSIBLE PROSECUTORIAL INTERFERENCE: Alberta’s ethics commissioner is investigating Premier Danielle Smith over whether she interfered with the administration of justice related to a COVID-19 prosecution, according to her office. Story here.
THIS AND THAT
ON A BREAK – Both the House of Commons and the Senate are on breaks, with the Commons sitting again on April 17 and the Senate sitting again on April 18.
PRIME MINISTER’S DAY - Prime Minister Justin Trudeau met his Ukrainian counterpart Denys Shmyhal in a downtown Toronto hotel this morning.
DEPUTY PRIME MINISTER’S DAY - Deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland also met with Mr. Shmyhal in Toronto.
THE DECIBEL
In the last year, the remains of four First Nations women, believed to be victims of a serial killer, have been discovered or are believed to be in Winnipeg landfills. The outrage from the women’s communities is not just over their deaths, but also over what they say is failure and inaction from Winnipeg Police.
On Tuesday’s edition of The Globe and Mail podcast, crime and justice reporter Molly Hayes joins The Decibel to discuss why police have refused to search one of the landfills and the renewed fight for answers from the families and friends of missing and murdered Indigenous women. Find The Decibel here.
OPINION
The Globe and Mail Editorial Board on how the Liberals’ many ethics gaffes cast a long shadow: “In better times, there likely would have been little reaction to the announcement in late March that an experienced investigator in the office of the federal Conflict of Interest and Ethics Commissioner – who also happens to be the sister-in-law of a senior Liberal cabinet minister – would serve as interim ethics commissioner for six months.”
John Ibbitson (The Globe and Mail) on how the state of 24 Sussex Drive is an increasingly absurd embarrassment: “The Prime Minister of Canada deserves a residence worthy of this country. 24 Sussex Dr. deserves a future. But the solution to the first challenge might be different from the solution to the second. The prime minister’s official residence is in desperate straits. The house is uninhabitable: filled with asbestos, mould and dead rodents.”
André Picard (The Globe and Mail) on how a 14-year legal battle over medicare ends with a yawn: “It was once billed as the No. 1 threat to medicare, and perhaps the most important constitutional challenge in Canadian history. But Dr. Brian Day’s fight to allow Canadians to pay privately for quicker access to health care services has ended with barely a whimper, never mind a society-rattling bang.”
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Janice Dickson