Evidence of meeting #68 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 foundation.
A video is available from Parliament.
4:50 p.m.
Author of the Report on the assessment of the 2021 Critical Election Incident Public Protocol and former President and CEO of the Pierre Elliott Trudeau Foundation, As an Individual
Frankly, no.
I can say it again: those were different times. It was after two of the biggest universities in Canada had received money.
4:50 p.m.
Conservative
Luc Berthold Conservative Mégantic—L'Érable, QC
When you got instructions to issue a receipt to people who were not the ones who had made the donations, did you not find that bizarre?
4:50 p.m.
Author of the Report on the assessment of the 2021 Critical Election Incident Public Protocol and former President and CEO of the Pierre Elliott Trudeau Foundation, As an Individual
No, because we receive donations from people who use their company to make donations.
4:50 p.m.
Conservative
Luc Berthold Conservative Mégantic—L'Érable, QC
Do you think it is okay to let Canadians believe it is reasonable for two individuals to have made a donation to a foundation and concealed the exact provenance of the company that made the donation?
4:50 p.m.
Author of the Report on the assessment of the 2021 Critical Election Incident Public Protocol and former President and CEO of the Pierre Elliott Trudeau Foundation, As an Individual
Our intention was not to conceal anything.
4:50 p.m.
Conservative
Luc Berthold Conservative Mégantic—L'Érable, QC
You said earlier that you had sent the receipt to an address in Hong Kong, at the request of the donors. But when I look at the documents that the foundation sent, I see that the address on the receipt is indeed in Hong Kong. The address in Hong Kong wasn't just on the envelope, it was actually on the receipt.
4:50 p.m.
Author of the Report on the assessment of the 2021 Critical Election Incident Public Protocol and former President and CEO of the Pierre Elliott Trudeau Foundation, As an Individual
I don't have that document.
4:50 p.m.
Conservative
Luc Berthold Conservative Mégantic—L'Érable, QC
In a document, here, it says: “Official receipt”, “Millennium Golden Eagle International (Canada) Inc.”, “804‑805 Pacific Place”, “Queensway, Hong Kong, China”.
That is the receipt that was given directly, it isn't just an address where you were told to send a Canadian receipt.
That didn't seem odd either?
4:50 p.m.
Author of the Report on the assessment of the 2021 Critical Election Incident Public Protocol and former President and CEO of the Pierre Elliott Trudeau Foundation, As an Individual
No, not at that time.
4:50 p.m.
Conservative
Luc Berthold Conservative Mégantic—L'Érable, QC
It is your name on the receipt. You signed a receipt to a company incorporated in Canada, sent to Hong Kong, and all of that combined was not enough to make you wonder, despite your experience as deputy minister of Foreign Affairs.
4:50 p.m.
Author of the Report on the assessment of the 2021 Critical Election Incident Public Protocol and former President and CEO of the Pierre Elliott Trudeau Foundation, As an Individual
No, not at that time, because I think we had been asked to send the receipt to Zhang Bin's address. I thought it was his address, but I'm not certain.
As I said—
4:50 p.m.
Conservative
Luc Berthold Conservative Mégantic—L'Érable, QC
Mr. Rosenberg, the receipt does not say exactly what you say.
You talked about a mailing address for sending a receipt. Now, I see that the receipt was sent to an address in China. I'm going to ask you a real question.
4:50 p.m.
Author of the Report on the assessment of the 2021 Critical Election Incident Public Protocol and former President and CEO of the Pierre Elliott Trudeau Foundation, As an Individual
Who can use the receipt?
4:50 p.m.
Conservative
Luc Berthold Conservative Mégantic—L'Érable, QC
Regardless of who uses it, Mr. Rosenberg, it should have raised questions regarding the provenance of the donation, which was different from what you had been promised in the agreement signed by the two donors.
Did it often happen that you sent receipts of that kind overseas? Was that the first time?
4:50 p.m.
Author of the Report on the assessment of the 2021 Critical Election Incident Public Protocol and former President and CEO of the Pierre Elliott Trudeau Foundation, As an Individual
I don't recall.
4:50 p.m.
Conservative
Luc Berthold Conservative Mégantic—L'Érable, QC
To your knowledge, was Alexandre Trudeau involved in other discussions about other donations to the Pierre Elliott Trudeau Foundation?
4:50 p.m.
Author of the Report on the assessment of the 2021 Critical Election Incident Public Protocol and former President and CEO of the Pierre Elliott Trudeau Foundation, As an Individual
I don't recall.
4:50 p.m.
Conservative
Luc Berthold Conservative Mégantic—L'Érable, QC
So that would be the only time when Alexandre Trudeau was involved in a donation of that size to the foundation during the years you were there.
4:55 p.m.
Author of the Report on the assessment of the 2021 Critical Election Incident Public Protocol and former President and CEO of the Pierre Elliott Trudeau Foundation, As an Individual
It might be better if you asked him tomorrow.
4:55 p.m.
Conservative
Luc Berthold Conservative Mégantic—L'Érable, QC
Yes, but to your knowledge, as the former president and CEO of the foundation, was that the only time?
4:55 p.m.
Author of the Report on the assessment of the 2021 Critical Election Incident Public Protocol and former President and CEO of the Pierre Elliott Trudeau Foundation, As an Individual
To my knowledge, there were no other times, but as I said, it was eight years ago now. I don't have an exact recollection of everything that happened.
4:55 p.m.
Conservative
Luc Berthold Conservative Mégantic—L'Érable, QC
Mr. Rosenberg, given all the information available to you, and given also that you had experience as deputy minister of Foreign Affairs and all the circumstances that emerged from the testimony we have heard, we might be a bit surprised at the naïveté with which you handled this information and all the other information at that time.
Unfortunately, you were responsible for the final analysis of foreign interference in the 2021 election. Were you just as naive in the way all the information submitted was dealt with?
4:55 p.m.
Author of the Report on the assessment of the 2021 Critical Election Incident Public Protocol and former President and CEO of the Pierre Elliott Trudeau Foundation, As an Individual
My report speaks for itself. I was not naive.
I even said that the situation had changed a lot since a few years ago. A lot of testimony from our security agencies indicates that there really is a problem, particularly when it comes to China, but there are also problems with other countries.
4:55 p.m.
Conservative
Luc Berthold Conservative Mégantic—L'Érable, QC
Mr. Rosenberg, unfortunately, you have been one of the privileged witnesses to how the Chinese communist regime started wanting to influence the Trudeau government.
