It seems pay to play, or cash for access, has traveled north of the border to Canada.
A new report suggests that money began to pour in to the Trudeau Foundation once Justin Trudeau took over the Liberal Party in 2013.
The National Post reports that the non-profit organization has seen its foreign contributions increase every year for the past three years. Also, a large percentage of the charity’s members, donors and directors have direct ties to private firms and organizations that are currently lobbying in Ottawa.
Here is a look at how much the Foundation has received in 2013:
- 2013: $254,000
- 2014: $172k ($53k from foreigners)
- 2015: $634k ($428k from foreigners)
- 2016: $731k ($535k from foreigners)
Since the fiscal years end Aug. 31, the list does not include a $200,000 donation from a Chinese billionaire that occurred last month.
Also, here is a chart compiled by the newspaper that shows the Trudeau Foundation’s conference sponsors, how many times they have lobbied since 2015 and what their lobbying issue was:
“People that might defend the Trudeau Foundation, would they defend a Harper foundation funding with tax money things that Stephen Harper liked? I don’t think so,” said Aaron Wudrick, federal director of the Canadian Taxpayers Federation. “And they’d be equally right.”
Whether or not the Canadian prime minister is participating in graft remains unproven. However, you can distinctly draw parallels between the Trudeau Foundation and the Clinton Foundation. As Secretary of State, as the WikiLeaks emails prove, Hillary Clinton sold access in exchange for donations to the organization. Many of the donations were made by foreign governments and foreign corporations.
The matter became known as pay to play, and was one of the reasons why she lost the 2016 U.S. presidential election.
What does Prime Minister Selfie think of the issue? He admits that he has been lobbied, but he says he has not been influenced.
“I can say that in various Liberal Party events I listen to people, as I will in any given situation, but the decisions I take in government are ones based on what is right for Canadians and not on what an individual in a fundraiser might say,” Trudeau told reporters on Monday.
“I and my entire government make ourselves extremely available to Canadians through a broad range of venues. Through town halls, through press conferences like this. The fact is, my approach continues to be to listen broadly to every different opportunity that I get – and make the right decisions based on what is good for Canada.”
But not everyone is convinced, including interim Conservatve Party leader Rona Ambrose, who believes Trudeau has a conflict of interest.
“Given that Prime Minister Trudeau is a former member of the Trudeau Foundation, that his brother Alexandre Trudeau is a current member of the board of directors of the foundation, that the Minister of Industry appoints two directors of the Trudeau Foundation, and that the Foundation has two representatives of the Trudeau family, any efforts by Mr. Trudeau to use his position as Prime Minister to encourage donations may be a violation of the definition of a conflict of interest,” she wrote to the conflicts of interest and ethics commissioner.
When Justin “Sunny Ways” Trudeau said things would change under his government, he was right. They have gotten more corrupt!
Gangsters and graft politicians back in the day would blush at the idea of using a charity as a cover for selling public favors.
nothing but sleaze GOVERNMENT are nothing more than crime syndicates