Evidence of meeting #69 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.
5:45 p.m.
Bloc
5:45 p.m.
Member, Pierre Elliott Trudeau Foundation
Yes, I wanted to go off the beaten path and meet real people.
5:45 p.m.
Bloc
5:45 p.m.
Bloc
René Villemure Bloc Trois-Rivières, QC
What about Montreal or with any Chinese consuls or ambassadors in Canada?
5:45 p.m.
Member, Pierre Elliott Trudeau Foundation
I recall an event, also attended by many politicians, at the National Arts Centre, to celebrate the anniversary of relations between China and Canada. I think there were also diplomats in attendance.
5:45 p.m.
Bloc
René Villemure Bloc Trois-Rivières, QC
Did you have any meetings in China, with Chinese diplomats or Canadians?
5:45 p.m.
Member, Pierre Elliott Trudeau Foundation
I did meet some Canadian diplomats in China; in fact, I have a lot of friends who are Canadian diplomats in China. As for Chinese diplomats or senior officials, I have indeed met some in China.
5:45 p.m.
Bloc
René Villemure Bloc Trois-Rivières, QC
He said in this morning's paper that you were a useful idiot.
5:45 p.m.
Member, Pierre Elliott Trudeau Foundation
I'm surprised to hear that from a man who is supposedly serious.
He has obviously not read my book. If he had, he would have seen that the approach is much more subtle than that.
5:45 p.m.
Member, Pierre Elliott Trudeau Foundation
You know as well as I do that the Journal de Montréal is not exactly the best forum for serious commentary.
I'm not at all sure that Mr. Guy Saint-Jacques actually said that. If so, he should give me a call. What was his reason for saying so?
It's frankly unfair. I wrote a serious book about the people of China. I'm not an apologist for the communist Chinese government. For starters, it's no longer even communist, and secondly, it's an imperial government. That's what people need to understand.
5:45 p.m.
Member, Pierre Elliott Trudeau Foundation
I know him by reputation, yes.
5:50 p.m.
Bloc
René Villemure Bloc Trois-Rivières, QC
At any rate, he has apparently somehow formed an opinion.
What's your political stance on China now? You are certainly aware of its history, but now, today, what do you think?
5:50 p.m.
Member, Pierre Elliott Trudeau Foundation
Xi Jinping's Government is a big problem for China and the whole world. It marks a transition from what I would call the Deng Xiaoping period, one of openness and diplomatic modesty, to a highly imperialistic and hardline era which is in fact a response to a hardening world. He's a strong man who doesn't tolerate…
It's sad, but in terms of freedom—we would all like to see the Chinese people achieve freedom—China will never reach the same level that we have in our country; few other countries will do so. The height of freedom there, in my opinion, was in 2010. Since then, there has been a decline.
5:50 p.m.
Conservative
The Chair Conservative John Brassard
Thank you, Mr. Trudeau.
Mr. Villemure has reached the end of his speaking time.
Mr. Green, you have six minutes, sir. Go ahead, please.
5:50 p.m.
NDP
Matthew Green NDP Hamilton Centre, ON
Thank you very much.
I'm going to go back to the issue of governance.
You've heard the questions today, the allegations that have been made at committee, the confusion around what's been written policy. The former president, Pascale Fournier, stated that when she came on, she had to institute a bunch of written policies. Is that true?
5:50 p.m.
Member, Pierre Elliott Trudeau Foundation
No. There were some, but we needed more policies. That's for sure.