{"id":2671,"date":"2023-03-01T02:55:57","date_gmt":"2023-03-01T02:55:57","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/canadafirst.nfshost.com\/?p=2671"},"modified":"2023-03-01T02:55:57","modified_gmt":"2023-03-01T02:55:57","slug":"ottawas-liberal-elite-is-riddled-with-fans-of-red-china-a-scandal-erupts","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/canadafirst.nfshost.com\/?p=2671","title":{"rendered":"OTTAWA’S LIBERAL ELITE IS RIDDLED WITH FANS OF RED CHINA — A SCANDAL ERUPTS"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Tories Blast PM\u2019s Choice of Former Trudeau Foundation Head to Write Report on Election Interference Amid Latest CSIS Leak<\/h1>\n\n\n\n
\"Prime<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau stands alongside National Defence Minister Anita Anand in Toronto on Feb. 24, 2023. (Chris Young\/The Canadian Press)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Marnie<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

<\/a> By Marnie Cathcart<\/a>February 28, 2023Updated: February 28, 2023 biggersmaller<\/a>Print<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Conservatives are crying foul over the appointment of former Pierre Elliott Trudeau Foundation president and CEO Morris Rosenberg to head up a panel examining foreign interference in Canadian elections.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Rosenberg was CEO in 2016 when the Trudeau Foundation received $200,000 in donations from Zhang Bin, a wealthy Chinese businessman tied to the Chinese communist regime, who was also in attendance at a Liberal Party cash-for-access fundraiser event in 2016<\/a> with Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Conservatives issued a statement on the matter late on Feb. 27, just before a Globe and Mail report<\/a> the following day citing an unnamed national security source saying that in 2014, a Chinese diplomat had instructed Zhang to donate $1 million to the Trudeau Foundation, and that Beijing would reimburse him for the amount.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The source told the Globe that the conversation was captured by the Canadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS) in 2014, soon after Trudeau became Liberal leader in 2013. According to the Globe, the source said the diplomat and Zhang discussed the upcoming 2015 federal election, and the possibility that the Liberals could defeat the Conservatives to form government.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Shortly after the 2016 fundraiser, Zhang and another Chinese businessman donated $1 million to \u201chonour the memory and leadership\u201d of former prime minister Pierre Trudeau, the Globe says. Of that amount, $200,000 went to the Trudeau Foundation, $50,000 toward the building of a statue of Pierre Trudeau, and $75,000 to the University of Montreal\u2019s faculty of law, where the former prime minister had attended as a student and was later an instructor.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Panel<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

The Conservatives allege Trudeau handpicked Rosenberg, who is described by the Trudeau Foundation as \u201ca previously appointed Trudeau mentor,\u201d to write a report on foreign interference in the 2021 election.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The development comes following recent reporting<\/a> based on leaked intelligence documents that China interfered in elections with the goal of electing a Liberal minority government, while obstructing some Conservative candidates.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cFor months, Justin Trudeau has repeatedly attempted to deny, minimize and cover up reports of serious interference in Canadian elections,\u201d says the Feb. 27 Conservative Party statement<\/a>. \u201cSerious questions must be asked about this appointment, and whether the Liberals are actually taking this threat against our democracy seriously.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

When tweeting the release, Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre commented: \u201cTrudeau says we shouldn\u2019t worry about Beijing\u2019s interference in our [elections] because he is having a report drafted on foreign interference. Who drafted it? The former head of the Trudeau Foundation\u2014which got $200k in donations from \u2026 an official from Beijing\u2019s communist government.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Neither Rosenberg nor the Prime Minister\u2019s Office replied to Epoch Times requests for comment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Rosenberg, a former deputy minister of foreign affairs, served as president and CEO of the Pierre Elliott Trudeau Foundation from August 2014 to July 2018.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Liberal MP Mark Gerretsen, parliamentary secretary for the leader of the government in the House of Commons, said<\/a> on Twitter that Poilievre is \u201cplaying a very dangerous game here.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cTo take partisan cheap shots at a dedicated public servant is truly irresponsible,\u201d Gerretsen said on Feb. 27. \u201cMorris Rosenberg has faithfully served Canadian (sic) for many years, including under Conservative governments.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Rosenberg\u2019s report on incidents of foreign interference in the 2021 election is now complete but is not yet available to the public, while the 2019 evaluation was completed about 13 months after the election that year. The panel didn\u2019t make any announcement about foreign interference during the 2019 or 2021 elections.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

CCP Ties<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Zhang Bin was a member of the 12th National Committee of the Chinese People\u2019s Political Consultative Conference, a political advisory body within the Chinese communist regime. He was also president of the China Cultural Industry Association (CCIA).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

According to the CCIA\u2019s English website, the organization is \u201cempowered to develop China\u2019s cultural industry, to boost the soft power of Chinese culture and advance the campaign of going global of [sic] Chinese culture, while striving to become a social organization with global standing in the cultural field.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Epoch Times contacted Zhang for comment but didn\u2019t hear back.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

China\u2019s Election Interference<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Recent reports by the Globe and Mail and Global News cited secret CSIS documents and intelligence sources detailing widespread election interference by China in Canada\u2019s 2019 and 2021 federal elections.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Among the allegations are that Beijing provided funding to some candidates in the 2019 election; a Chinese diplomat boasting<\/a> that she helped defeat two Conservative candidates whose positions weren\u2019t favourable to Beijing in the 2021 election; and Chinese authorities wanting the outcome of the 2021 election to be a Liberal minority. A Liberal minority government would best serve Beijing\u2019s interests, while keeping the Liberals\u2019 power in check by opposition parties, a source told the Globe.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Commons Procedure and House Affairs Committee is currently looking into<\/a> the allegations in the news reports.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Conservatives said they will be calling for a separate investigation, and for Rosenberg to appear before the committee to provide \u201canswers on this attempt by the Liberals to paper over serious threats to our democracy.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Canadian Press contributed to this report. <\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Tories Blast PM\u2019s Choice of Former Trudeau Foundation Head to Write Report on Election Interference Amid Latest CSIS Leak Prime Minister Justin Trudeau stands alongside National Defence Minister Anita Anand in Toronto on Feb. 24, 2023. (Chris Young\/The Canadian Press) By Marnie CathcartFebruary 28, 2023Updated: February 28, 2023 biggersmallerPrint The Conservatives are crying foul over […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[1927,1933,835,127,1932,1928,1929,1921,1931,1930],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadafirst.nfshost.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2671"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadafirst.nfshost.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadafirst.nfshost.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadafirst.nfshost.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadafirst.nfshost.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2671"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/canadafirst.nfshost.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2671\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2672,"href":"https:\/\/canadafirst.nfshost.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2671\/revisions\/2672"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadafirst.nfshost.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2671"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadafirst.nfshost.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2671"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadafirst.nfshost.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2671"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}