The Trudeau Foundation is a mere subplot in a much larger and more serious issue

Alexandre Trudeau,second son of the 15th prime minister and brother of the 23rd, insisted on appearing before the standing committee on access to information, privacy and ethics to defend the honour of the Pierre Elliott Trudeau Foundation. His brother's government surely would have rather he hadn't, if only to avoid giving the storyany more attention.

But except for the mere spectacle of a famous son and brother appearing before a parliamentary committee, it's not obvious that the opposition Conservatives gained much from Trudeau's appearance either.

Indeed, the two hours that Trudeau spent answering questions from MPs on Wednesday only seemed to make the case that, for all the oxygen it it has consumed, the tale of the donation to the Trudeau Foundation is but a curiousand distracting subplot within a much larger and more serious story about alleged foreign interference in Canada by the Chinese state.

"Since its creation the foundation has granted several hundred scholarships to our most brilliant researchers and has given them the tools and training to make their important work more accessible to Canadians at large," Trudeau told the committee. "It is precisely as a bastion of reason and tolerance perhaps the last refuge even for a universal humanism that Canada has become the target of foreign interference."

Even more than his older brother, Alexandre Trudeau bears a strong resemblance to his father (whereas Justin got his mother's hair, Alexandre got his father's hairline). And apparently he talks a little like him too. Befitting his surname, he was a little combative with his inquisitors. But if Conservative MPs were hoping to bait him into saying something embarrassing at one point, they just started asking him about his views on China they basically failed.

The Trudeau Foundation was created in 2002, shortly after the death of its namesake, when the federal government agreed to endow an independent organization that would mentor and assist young scholars. Everyone seemed more or less okay with the idea at the time. And for most of the foundation's existence, it seems to have attracted little controversy. But over the last few months it has been referenced more than 200 times in the House of Commons.

The sudden uptick in interest coincides with a February report in the Globe and Mail alleging that CSIS had evidence in 2014 when the former Conservative government was in office that a donation to the foundation was part of an effort by Chinese officials to curry favour with Justin Trudeau. That a Chinese businessman had donated to the foundation was already well known. But now it was a piece of a larger furor over allegations of foreign interference in Canadian politics.

Alexandre Trudeau's account of what happened

It was Alexandre Trudeau's testimony that the University of Montreal first approached him about the donation in December 2013. The university had received a proposal to fund a scholarship in the late prime minister's name. That led them to contact Trudeau, representing both the family and the foundation. And that led to some of the promised money going to the foundation.

Trudeau testified that he received no warning from CSIS about the donation, that the donors did not raise any "red flags" for him and that he did not discuss the donation with his brother. He repeated that his brother has not been involved with the foundation for nearly a decade. He also said that he does not discuss government policy with his brother something he also said to CBC Radio in an interview in September 2016.

Though Trudeau cast doubt on the Globe's reporting, it's possible that a full airing of the facts and evidence would support the allegation that the donation had political motivations. It is also possible to look back and conclude that the Trudeau Foundation should have been more careful about who it accepted donations from. And there were numerous questions on Wednesday about the apparent disagreements between current and former managers of the foundation about how to handle questions about the donation.

But questions about corporate governance are a long way from the central concern about foreign interference. And no one at the committee table on Wednesday produced evidence that Alexandre Trudeau knowingly participated in a scheme to influence the government. Nor is there any indication that Justin Trudeau or his government did something wrong.

As the two hours dragged on, MPs seemed to run out of questions. For no particular reason, Trudeau was asked whether he thought a Chinese diplomat should be expelled over the alleged threats made against the family of Conservative MP Michael Chong. The prime minister's younger brother politely declined to comment.

WATCH | Conservative MP questions Trudeau about Beijing-linked donor:

Conservative MP questions Alexandre Trudeau about Beijing-linked donor

1 year ago

Duration 1:17

Alexandre Trudeau tells MPs Zhang Bin was likely at a fundraiser event for Justin Trudeau because 'he wanted to get a photo with the prime minister to show his friends.'

The new reality of foreign interference

When Morris Rosenberg, the Trudeau Foundation's former president, testified before the same committee on Tuesday, he suggested that the donation needed to be understood in the context of the time period. Usually such pleas are more excuse than explanation, but it's also not wrong to say that times have changed.

As Rosenberg noted, Stephen Harper's cabinet ratified a Foreign Investment Promotion and Protection Agreement with China in September 2014. (Conservative leader Pierre Poilievre had a seat at the cabinet table at the time.) But Rosenberg was too polite to mention the pandas.

Harper posed with one of the cuddly Chinese animals during a trip to China in 2012 when he announced a deal to lease a pair of giant pandas for up to ten years (at a cost of $1 million per year). A year later, when Er Shun and Da Mao arrived in Toronto, Harper showed up at the airport to greet them.

"We have a prime minister who is not too busy to go and see two pandas that are not even allowed out of quarantine, but he is too busy to see 12 premiers," Bob Rae, the former Liberal MP, teased Harper at the time.

In fairness, most Canadians would rather hang out with two pandas than a dozen premiers (pandas are easier to please and less prone to biting).

But in hindsight, do those pandas seem a little less cuddly? At the very least, there would certainly be calls to send them back if they were still here now (Er Shun and Da Mao were returned in November 2020 due to a bamboo shortage).

The context is very different now. The authoritarian threat to democracy is very apparent. Sensational allegations of Chinese interference are swirling. What the government knew, what there was to know and what was being done about whatever was going on is frustratingly unclear. The opposition Conservatives are telling Canadians to assume the worst and the Liberal government says national security prevents it from explaining itself.

At issue are the fundamental elements of Canadian democracy and the Canadian public's ability to have faith in its institutions. These are big and serious things worthy of serious attention. And as much as the Trudeau Foundation is an inviting target for speculation and intrigue and spectacle, it's not obvious that it's anything more than a distraction from more important matters.