Trudeau cash-for-access scandal

Last updated

The Trudeau cash-for-access scandal is a political scandal arising from newspaper reports in 2016 that Prime Minister of Canada Justin Trudeau had been attending cash-for-access events at the homes of wealthy Chinese-Canadians in Toronto and Vancouver, generating a political scandal. [1] [2] [3] [4] Attendees at these events, including attendees with connections to the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), would pay up to $1,525 per ticket to meet Trudeau. In response, the Liberal Party of Canada indicated that all party fundraising complied with Elections Canada rules and regulations. [5]

Contents

Although such cash-for-access events were reported as appearing to violate Trudeau's "Open and Accountable Government" rules about lobbying and fundraising, [6] Ethics Commissioner Mary Dawson interviewed Trudeau and determined that no rules were broken, without releasing a report. [7] [2] Dawson's office defended the lack of a report by stating that Dawson had not opened a formal investigation, which would have legally required the commissioner to issue a public report under the Conflict of Interest Act . [7] [8] [9]

Known cash-for-access events

Before or around 2016, Trudeau attended several fundraisers at the Toronto home of an insurance mogul. [10] One of the fundraisers occurred on 14 April 2016. The insurance mogul is reported to associate with China's consul general to Toronto. [10]

On 19 May 2016, Trudeau attended a fundraiser at the Toronto home of a chair of the Chinese Business Chamber of Commerce, along with 32 other guests. [11] This event was attended by Chinese billionaire and CCP official Zhang Bin, who subsequently made a $200,000 donation to the Pierre Elliott Trudeau Foundation and a $50,000 donation to erect a statue of Pierre Trudeau in Montreal, after his initial request of a statue of Pierre Trudeau with Mao Zedong was declined. [12] [1] In addition to Bin, two other event attendees have reported known close ties to Chinese state organizations. [6] The mogul's canola oil export business interests might have been harmed by China's planned restrictions on the import of Canadian canola seed. In September of the same year, Trudeau persuaded China's leaders to lift the restrictions. [8]

On 7 November 2016, Trudeau attended a "cash-for-access" fundraiser with over 80 guests at the West Vancouver mansion of a British Columbia real estate developer, who was also part of a 2012 campaign by the Canadian Alliance of Chinese Associations to rally overseas support for Chinese territorial expansion in the East China Sea. At the event, the developer reportedly urged Trudeau to allow a Chinese investment in Canadian seniors’ care that was under review by the federal government. [13] [7] [8] Later that same month, Chinese insurance firm Anbang Insurance Group completed its purchase of a majority stake in Vancouver-based seniors’ care company Retirement Concepts for over $1 billion. [13] [7] Retirement Concepts was the largest provider of assisted living and residential care services in British Columbia at the time, receiving $86.5-million from the province in the 2016 fiscal year. [13] Neither the Prime Minister's Office nor the Liberal Party website noted the event. Photos of the event appeared in Chinese news media. [1]

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">John McCallum</span> Canadian politician

John McCallum is a Canadian politician, economist, diplomat and former university professor. A former Liberal Member of Parliament (MP), McCallum was the Canadian Ambassador to China from 2017 to 2019. He was asked for his resignation by Prime Minister Trudeau in 2019. As an MP, he represented the electoral district of Markham—Thornhill, and had previously represented Markham—Unionville and Markham. He is a member of the Queen's Privy Council for Canada.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Justin Trudeau</span> Prime Minister of Canada since 2015

Justin Pierre James Trudeau is a Canadian politician who has served as the 23rd prime minister of Canada since 2015 and the leader of the Liberal Party since 2013.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">WE Charity</span> Canadian charity

WE Charity, formerly known as Free the Children, is an international development charity and youth empowerment movement founded in 1995 by human rights advocates Marc and Craig Kielburger. The organization implemented development programs in Asia, Africa and Latin America, focusing on education, water, health, food and economic opportunity. It also runs domestic programming for young people in Canada, the US and UK, promoting corporate-sponsored service learning and active citizenship. Charity Intelligence, a registered Canadian charity that rates over 750 Canadian charities, rates the "demonstrated impact" per dollar of We Charity as "Low" and has issued a "Donor Advisory" due to We Charity replacing most of its board of directors in 2020.

The Public Health Agency of Canada is an agency of the Government of Canada that is responsible for public health, emergency preparedness and response, and infectious and chronic disease control and prevention.

The Conflict of Interest and Ethics Commissioner of Canada is an entity of the Parliament of Canada. The commissioner is an independent officer of Parliament, who administers the Conflict of Interest Act and the Conflict of Interest Code for Members of the House of Commons and is supported in this role by the Office of the Conflict of Interest and Ethics Commissioner. The position came into effect on July 9, 2007, with the coming into force of the Conflict of Interest Act. This act, in turn, was enacted as part of the Federal Accountability Act.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Michael Chan (Canadian politician)</span> Canadian politician (born c. 1951)

Kwok Chi (Michael) Chan is a Hong Kong Canadian politician in Ontario, Canada. He was a Liberal member of the Legislative Assembly of Ontario from 2007 until 2018. He represented the riding of Markham-Unionville. Chan served as a Cabinet Minister, during his entire tenure in politics in the governments of Dalton McGuinty and Kathleen Wynne. Michael Chan presently serves as the Deputy Mayor of Markham. Chan has also served as a Senior Business Advisor for the law firm Miller Thomson LLP in Vaughan and as a member of the board of governors at Seneca College.

The Pierre Elliott Trudeau Foundation, commonly called the Trudeau Foundation, is a Canadian charity founded in 2001 named after former Canadian prime minister Pierre Trudeau.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Corruption in Canada</span> Institutional corruption in the country of Canada

Corruption is an increasing issue across Canada. On Transparency International's 2023 Corruption Perceptions Index, Canada scored 76 on a scale from 0 to 100. When ranked by score, Canada ranked 12th among the 180 countries in the Index, where the country ranked first is perceived to have the most honest public sector. For comparison with worldwide scores, the best score was 90, the average score was 43, and the worst score was 11. For comparison with regional scores, Canada's score of 76 was the highest score among the countries of the Americas. Regionally, the average score was 43 and the lowest score was 13.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Victor Oh</span> Canadian politician

Victor Oh is a Canadian senator from Ontario. He was appointed to the Senate on January 25, 2013.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Han Dong (politician)</span> Canadian politician

Han Peng Dong is a Canadian politician who is serving as the member of parliament (MP) for Don Valley North. Sitting as an independent, Dong was elected to the House of Commons in 2019 as a member of the Liberal Party. He previously served as the member of provincial parliament (MPP) for Trinity—Spadina from 2014 to 2018, with the Ontario Liberal Party. In March 2023, Dong stepped down from the Liberal caucus amidst allegations that he advised the Chinese consul general in Toronto against the release of Michael Spavor and Michael Kovrig and helped the consulate interfere in the 2019 federal election.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bill Morneau</span> 39th Canadian Minister of Finance

William Francis Morneau Jr. is a Canadian businessman and former Liberal Party politician who served as minister of finance and member of Parliament (MP) for Toronto Centre from 2015 to 2020.

Katie Telford is a Canadian political strategist who is the Chief of Staff to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau. She served as Trudeau's chief campaign advisor during his successful campaign in the 2015 election. Following the resignation of Gerald Butts, Telford has been acknowledged as holding the highest-ranking position within the Prime Minister's Office and held critical leadership roles in the 2019 and 2021 Liberal election campaigns. Telford was also influential in Canada's response to the COVID-19 pandemic, and the negotiations of the March 2022 Liberal-NDP supply and confidence agreement.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Premiership of Justin Trudeau</span>

The premiership of Justin Trudeau began on November 4, 2015, when the first Cabinet headed by Justin Trudeau was sworn in by Governor General David Johnston. Trudeau was invited to form the 29th Canadian Ministry and become Prime Minister of Canada following the 2015 election, where Trudeau's Liberal Party won a majority of seats in the House of Commons of Canada, defeating the Conservative Prime Minister Stephen Harper's government. In both federal elections of 2019 and 2021, Trudeau was re-elected with minority governments; with his party losing the popular vote twice.

The SNC-Lavalin affair is a political scandal involving attempted political interference with the justice system by the Prime Minister of Canada, Justin Trudeau, and the Prime Minister's Office (PMO). The Parliament of Canada's Ethics Commissioner Mario Dion found that Trudeau improperly influenced then Minister of Justice and Attorney General Jody Wilson-Raybould to intervene in an ongoing criminal case against Quebec-based construction company SNC-Lavalin by offering a deferred prosecution agreement.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Detention of Michael Spavor and Michael Kovrig</span> 2018–2021 detention of Canadians in China

In December 2018, Canadian nationals Michael Spavor and Michael Kovrig were taken into custody in China. It appeared that their detention on December 10 and subsequent indictment under the state secrets law were linked to the arrest of Huawei's chief financial officer, Meng Wanzhou, in Canada on December 1. In English-language media, the pair are frequently and colloquially referred to as the Two Michaels.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Allegations of Chinese interference in the 2019 and 2021 Canadian federal elections</span>

The People's Republic of China made attempts to interfere in the 2019 Canadian federal election and 2021 Canadian federal election and threatened Canadian politicians, according to Canadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS). In late 2022, the Global News television network reported on a suspected attempt by the PRC to infiltrate the Parliament of Canada by funding a network of candidates to run in the 2019 Canadian federal election. In early 2023, The Globe and Mail newspaper published a series of articles reporting that the CSIS, in several classified documents, advised that China's Ministry of State Security (MSS) and United Front Work Department had employed disinformation campaigns and undisclosed donations to support preferred candidates during the 2021 Canadian federal election, with the aim of ensuring that the Liberals would win again, but only with a minority. In February 2023, CSIS concluded that the Chinese government interfered in the 2019 and 2021 elections.

Abi Roach is a Canadian cannabis entrepreneur and advocate for the reform of cannabis in Ontario and Canada.

Chinese government interference in Canada consists of espionage, compromise of politicians and government officials, election interference, and control of individuals and companies with ties to the Chinese government or Chinese Communist Party (CCP).

Zhang Bin is a Chinese political strategist and business magnate.

References

  1. 1 2 3 Fife, Robert; Chase, Steven (2 December 2016). "Influential Chinese-Canadians paying to attend private fundraisers with Trudeau". The Globe and Mail. Archived from the original on 23 March 2023. Retrieved 23 March 2023.
  2. 1 2 Kassam, Ashifa (15 December 2016). "Trudeau to be questioned by ethics watchdog over reports of cash for access". The Guardian. Archived from the original on 23 March 2023. Retrieved 23 March 2023.
  3. ↑ "Trudeau government faces 'cash-for-access' criticism". BBC News. 23 November 2016. Archived from the original on 23 March 2023. Retrieved 23 March 2023.
  4. ↑ Fife, Robert; Chase, Steven (13 December 2016). "Justin Trudeau says he uses cash-for-access fundraisers to champion the middle class". The Globe and Mail. Archived from the original on 23 March 2023. Retrieved 23 March 2023.
  5. ↑ Zimonjic, Peter (Nov 22, 2016). "Trudeau defends fundraiser with Chinese businessman who later donated $200,000 to father's foundation". www.cbc.ca. CBC News. Archived from the original on 2016-11-23. Retrieved 29 May 2023.
  6. 1 2 Fife, Robert; Chase, Steven (22 November 2016). "Trudeau defends fundraiser as effort to attract Chinese investment". The Globe and Mail. Archived from the original on 23 March 2023. Retrieved 23 March 2023.
  7. 1 2 3 4 "PM no longer under investigation for cash-for-access fundraisers, but ethics commissioner won't say why". National Post. Archived from the original on 9 February 2024. Retrieved 23 March 2023.
  8. 1 2 3 Fife, Robert; Chase, Steven (15 December 2016). "Ethics Commissioner to question Trudeau on cash-for-access fundraisers". The Globe and Mail. Archived from the original on 23 March 2023. Retrieved 23 March 2023.
  9. ↑ Wherry, Aaron (Apr 27, 2017). "Ethics commissioner cleared Trudeau's fundraising in February". www.cbc.ca. CBC News. Archived from the original on 2017-04-28. Retrieved 29 May 2023.
  10. 1 2 Blackwell, Tom. "Daughter of high-profile Toronto businesswoman and political fundraiser charged with murder | SaltWire". www.saltwire.com. Archived from the original on 8 December 2022. Retrieved 23 March 2023.
  11. ↑ Fife, Robert; Chase, Steven (22 November 2016). "Trudeau attended cash-for-access fundraiser with Chinese billionaires". The Globe and Mail. Archived from the original on 21 March 2023. Retrieved 23 March 2023.
  12. ↑ V, Nathan (28 February 2023). "Chinese donors who funded Trudeau Foundation wanted statue of Mao in Montreal". The Globe and Mail. Archived from the original on 1 March 2023. Retrieved 23 March 2023.
  13. 1 2 3 Fife, Robert; Chase, Steven (2 December 2016). "Trudeau discussed Chinese investments at fundraiser, host says". The Globe and Mail. Archived from the original on 23 March 2023. Retrieved 23 March 2023.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.