Evidence of meeting #70 for Access to Information, Privacy and Ethics in the 44th Parliament, 1st Session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was donation.
A video is available from Parliament.
6 p.m.
Chair of the Board of the Foundation, Pierre Elliott Trudeau Foundation
Inter alia, yes.
6 p.m.
NDP
Matthew Green NDP Hamilton Centre, ON
You would agree that this scenario has cast negative aspersions on the foundation, perhaps justly or unjustifiably—
6 p.m.
Chair of the Board of the Foundation, Pierre Elliott Trudeau Foundation
Utterly unjustifiably, yes.
6 p.m.
NDP
Matthew Green NDP Hamilton Centre, ON
Okay.
In terms of the governance of the board, we've heard that you meet twice a year and you're not fully briefed. Would it be fair to say that it's a bit of a rubber stamp board in the management of it?
6 p.m.
Chair of the Board of the Foundation, Pierre Elliott Trudeau Foundation
Not in the least, and by the way, on my watch, we've increased our meetings. I was talking about what it was like back then. On my watch, we've increased the number of meetings and—
6 p.m.
Chair of the Board of the Foundation, Pierre Elliott Trudeau Foundation
To three a year, and our meetings are far longer than the three hours that they used to be. We do a lot.
6 p.m.
NDP
Matthew Green NDP Hamilton Centre, ON
Okay, fair enough.
Regarding the April 14 request to the Auditor General, is the Auditor General taking on a forensic investigation into the foundation?
6 p.m.
Chair of the Board of the Foundation, Pierre Elliott Trudeau Foundation
Regrettably, she is not. She has informed me that she would not.
6 p.m.
NDP
Matthew Green NDP Hamilton Centre, ON
She would not.
You would likely have heard the discourse around the table around Chinese foreign interference. You likely would have heard about the prima facie parliamentary privilege of MP Michael Chong. You would obviously have heard the allegations around the foundation and Chinese police stations operating here. You would have heard all of these things.
Your foundation, sir, has been dragged into that world of allegations around Chinese foreign interference. As the chair, you have a duty to help preserve the legacy of the foundation. Would you agree that one of the ways to best provide the most amount of clarity around this—because we've now sat through many witnesses, and I'm not sure we have clarity—would be to be included in a public inquiry, should David Johnston, at the end of his special rapporteur position, present that?
Would that be something that you think would be helpful in clearing the name of the foundation in a very clear and unequivocal way?
6 p.m.
Chair of the Board of the Foundation, Pierre Elliott Trudeau Foundation
I don't think that would be necessary in order to clear the name of the foundation. I think that we can—
6 p.m.
Chair of the Board of the Foundation, Pierre Elliott Trudeau Foundation
I'm sorry?
6 p.m.
Chair of the Board of the Foundation, Pierre Elliott Trudeau Foundation
I've done my best, but I'm answering pretty narrow questions—
6 p.m.
Chair of the Board of the Foundation, Pierre Elliott Trudeau Foundation
Well, as I say, I've done my best. I can't tell you what I don't know.
6 p.m.
NDP
Matthew Green NDP Hamilton Centre, ON
But if there is a public inquiry, you would co-operate with it.
6 p.m.
Chair of the Board of the Foundation, Pierre Elliott Trudeau Foundation
Of course.
6 p.m.
Conservative
The Chair Conservative John Brassard
Mr. Green, thank you.
That concludes our round of questioning.
Mr. Johnson, on behalf of the committee, I want to thank you for appearing today.
I apologize for the interruptions. It's the business of Parliament, but I appreciate your patience on behalf of the committee and on behalf of Canadians as well.
Thank you to our technicians and our clerk.
Monsieur Villemure.
6 p.m.
Bloc
René Villemure Bloc Trois-Rivières, QC
I have a point of order, Mr. Chair.
We were supposed to spend time on committee business. Now, I wish we could take a moment to discuss what's going on on the document side. It will be brief, but I think it is necessary.
6 p.m.
Conservative
The Chair Conservative John Brassard
I can do it now. I think I did it at the beginning.
We could reasonably expect to have documents by the latter part of this week, perhaps by May 11. The challenge, so that the committee is aware, is on the ATIP document, which is a public document. It's already out there. It's 160 pages. If we wait for that, the problem is we're going to be waiting a much longer period of time.
I've instructed the clerk to release the documents in their entirety, because I believe that the context and timeline are critical in the committee's understanding of just what was going on within the foundation and based on Madam Fournier's notes.
If that satisfies the committee, that's the update.
There may have been some other things that I would have liked to discuss, and I'll consider that on Friday as part of committee business. Is that okay?
Okay. Thank you, everyone.
The meeting is adjourned.