Poilievre’s viral video shows a shameless Trudeau boasting about handing hundreds of millions in taxpayer dollars to what the opposition leader dubs a “Beijing-controlled bank.”
Juxtaposed next to Trudeau’s smugness is Pickard’s alarming first-hand account before a parliamentary committee, alleging the bank is an instrument of Chinese authoritarian power rather than an independent institution.
This stark contrast between Trudeau’s effusive praise and Pickard’s dire warnings raises troubling questions. Did the Prime Minister naively fund Communist Party influence or intentionally further China’s geopolitical aims?
As officials conduct a review, why have they ignored the whistleblower’s pleas? The lack of transparency regarding Canada’s dealings with the AIIB reek of a coverup. With national interests and principles at stake, Canadians deserve the truth.
Pierre Poilievre recently posted a video on social media highlighting Prime Minister Trudeau’s support and funding for the China-led Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank or the AIIB.
The video shows excerpts of Trudeau boasting about providing hundreds of millions of taxpayer dollars to the AIIB, which Poilievre describes as a “Beijing-controlled bank.” It also includes testimony by former AIIB senior executive Bob Pickard before a House of Commons committee.
In his testimony, Pickard said the AIIB president’s office is unusually powerful and dominated by senior Chinese Communist Party members. Poilievre’s video questions where the Canadian funding has gone and how taxpayers can get it back, given the concerns raised over the AIIB’s governance and apparent CCP influence according to Pickard’s statement.
Trudeau’s praise of the AIIB combined with Pickard’s troubling allegations shines a concerning spotlight on the Liberal government’s controversial support for an institution accused of being an arm of the Chinese regime rather than an independent international bank.
This situation with Trudeau brings to mind similar concerns about his American counterpart, President Biden. As we recently covered on our Street Politics USA channel, the GOP Oversight committee had uncovered troubling evidence suggesting Biden may have received money from the Chinese Communist Party.
We’ll leave the link in the description if you want to learn more about the Biden investigation.
Moving on, Those revelations though raise questions about potential foreign influence over the U.S. President, just as Trudeau now faces scrutiny over his ties to the CCP. While the specific circumstances differ, both cases highlight the need for full transparency when leaders have personal or financial connections with foreign powers, to maintain public trust and accountability.
The most concerning part of Pickard’s recent testimony is speaking out against the lack of action from the Liberal government officials to contact Pickard and question him about the allegations, especially when we look at how Trudeau had praised and boasted about his deal with the bank as seen in Poilievre’s viral video.
This raises a serious question of whether Trudeau was knowingly supplying the Chinese Communist Party with hundreds of millions of tax-payer money, although the Liberals had freezed operations with the bank back in June, the whole ordeal leaves us wondering where our hard earned money has ended up.
In June 2023, Bob Pickard resigned from his role in communications at the China-led AIIB after 15 months. In announcing his resignation on Twitter, Pickard stated “resigning was my only course as a ‘patriotic Canadian.'”
He complained the bank was dominated by “Communist Party hacks” who were “like an in-house KGB or Gestapo or Stasi” – referencing the secret police of the Soviet Union, Nazi Germany, and communist East Germany.
Pickard had written, “The Beijing-headquartered bank ‘has one of the most toxic cultures imaginable. I don’t believe that my country’s interests are served by its AIIB membership.'”
In response to the allegations, the AIIB said in an email that Pickard’s comments were “baseless and disappointing” and claimed they had “supported and empowered him” during his tenure. The bank stated, “We are proud of our multilateral mission and have a diverse international team representing 65 different nationalities.”
The Chinese embassy in Ottawa also rejected Pickard’s comments as “pure sensationalism and a complete lie.” While the AIIB president is Chinese, the bank maintains its leadership includes a Briton, Russian, Indian and German as vice presidents. Pickard said he delayed announcing his resignation until arriving in Japan over concerns for his “security.”
Now, Bob Pickard has once again testified before a House of Commons committee in Canada, outlining grave concerns about China’s control over the bank. This time, speaking to the Canada-China relations committee, Pickard left no doubt about his views on the AIIB under current conditions.
“I would say that so long as we have the current geopolitical situation, and so long as we have the Chinese Communist Party trying to work to undermine Western democracies…trying to replace the United States as the number one power, it is impossible for that to happen,” Pickard stated plainly when asked if he thought the bank could be reformed.
Detailing his misgivings, Pickard explained he doubts the AIIB can be rehabilitated while China stays on its present global course. In his view, the Communist government is actively pulling the bank’s strings behind the scenes.
He told MPs he was troubled Canadian officials assessing the AIIB hadn’t contacted him with further questions about his allegations. The bank previously dismissed Pickard’s claims as “despicable lies” in an internal report.
Though Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland announced in June 2023 that Canada would freeze operations with the AIIB pending an investigation, Pickard has voiced concerns about the seriousness of the investigation.
According to Pickard, the investigation conducted by the AIIB into his allegations appeared to be more of a public relations tactic than an earnest inquiry. He stated that when he tried to defend himself, the bank denied him access to internal documents that would have supported his claims.
Considering Pickard’s first-hand experience and his resignation from the bank in protest over perceived Chinese-Communist control, Canada’s failurl e to actively engage with him raises red flags.
One would expect Trudeau’s officials to extensively question Pickard, who alleges the bank is manipulating operations on behalf of Beijing’s interests rather than as an independent institution. However, six months into Canada’s AIIB review, Pickard’s testimony disturbingly reveals a lack of outreach.
Given the substantial sum of taxpayer money already provided to the AIIB under Trudeau, and the severity of Pickard’s claims, it is very concerning that officials have apparently not made an effort to thoroughly investigate by speaking to the whistleblower directly.
His revelations about the bank ring alarm bells that should warrant serious scrutiny from Canadian authorities. Yet Pickard indicates Canada’s current review lacks appropriate diligence, even as crucial national interests are at stake. For a government pledging to get to the bottom of the AIIB’s governance, its seeming inaction speaks volumes.
Based on his experience, Pickard testified the AIIB’s president wields unusual power within the bank’s hierarchical structure. “It’s extremely top-down and that office is a cocoon physically cut off. And it is dominated by senior Communist Party members,” Pickard stated. He described a culture requiring “heel-clicking obedience” to the president’s directives, overriding all other priorities there.
Furthermore, Pickard claimed all information flowing to AIIB President Jin Liqun was first filtered through CCP officials having offices nearest to Jin at headquarters in Beijing. He recalled the president becoming increasingly isolated, taking advice from an official Pickard believed served as a party liaison.
Pickard told the committee he tried resigning once before, airing concerns about undue influence to Jin directly. But his resignation wasn’t accepted initially. Within days, the AIIB’s ombudsman had instead launched an investigation into Pickard’s own department.
When asked for documented evidence by MP Peter Fragisketos, Pickard responded, “I am an eyewitness. I have opinions. I saw certain things.” He added, “People keep asking me, ‘Where are the documents?’ Well, if I take those documents from the bank, I’d either be in a Chinese jail right now or I’d be under serious litigation.”
Poilievre’s video and Pickard’s testimony cast deep suspicion on Trudeau’s disturbing support for the AIIB.
Did Trudeau knowingly funnel hundreds of millions in taxpayer dollars to what appears to be an arm of the Chinese Communist Party? His effusive praise of the bank suggests either ignorance or willful complicity with Beijing’s aims.
Perhaps most damning is the deafening silence from Trudeau as officials conduct Canada’s AIIB review. Their failure to substantively engage with Pickard implies a sham investigation designed to whitewash the government’s ill-advised embrace of the AIIB.
Trudeau owes Canadians real accountability, not ducking responsibility for reckless policies that compromised national interests while bankrolling China’s influence.
If Trudeau’s government continues hampering earnest investigation into Pickard’s alarming allegations, it would signal the review is nothing but political theater to obscure the truth.
Canadians deserve to know if their prime minister recklessly funded Chinese authoritarian control dressed up as a multilateral bank. Anything less than complete transparency regarding Trudeau’s dubious AIIB dealings would be a disgrace and continue eroding trust in his leadership.
