News broke in late November that the Liberal Party of Canada was hosting private fundraising events featuring Trudeau, with tickets selling for $1,500-a-pop.
Attendees at a May, 2016 event included wealthy Chinese businessmen with financial interests in Canada.
According to the Globe and Mail, Zhang Bin, an advisor to the Chinese Communist government, attended the dinner and it was soon thereafter announced Zhang Bin would be donating to Trudeau’s pet causes.
Zhang donated $750,000 to the University of Montreal, $200,000 to the Trudeau Foundation and $50,000 to build a statue of Justin’s father, former Prime Minister Pierre Elliott Trudeau.
(The Foundation says the negotiations for the donations occurred before the fundraiser and that Justin Trudeau resigned from the Foundation in December, 2014.).
Another attendee at the $1,500-per-person fundraiser, Chinese banker Shenglin Xian, had a banking licence pending approval before the federal government, according to the Globe.
A few weeks later, his bank, Wealth One, was given final approval to operate in Canada.
(A Liberal party spokesman says Xian’s application was not discussed at the fundraiser.)
But after weeks of Liberals denying any lobbying had taken place at these private fundraisers, Trudeau, during his year-end news conference, said Liberal donors do use their access at such events to lobby him.
But, according to Trudeau, he’s not influenced by this and he champions Canada’s middle class at these high-dollar fundraisers.
