(Ottawa) Did Justin Trudeau mislead the Ethics Commissioner on his latest trip to Jamaica? This is what the Conservatives believe, who convened an emergency parliamentary committee on Wednesday with the support of the Bloc Québécois. All elected officials, including the Liberals, voted to have the commissioner testify.
“Like many Canadian families, we went to stay with friends for the Christmas holidays [et] all the rules were followed,” Mr. Trudeau told reporters Wednesday morning during a press conference in New Brunswick.
The premier’s office said it had consulted with the ethics commissioner and the family would reimburse the state for transportation costs on a government plane.
“We have the impression that the PM takes Canadians for suitcases,” said Conservative MP Jacques Gourde, before apologizing for the play on words.
The cost of this trip is disturbing, as is Mr. Trudeau’s lack of transparency.
“The Prime Minister took an $84,000 gift in the form of a luxury vacation to Jamaica during the holiday season,” recalled Conservative MP Michael Barrett, who also asked the Ethics Commissioner last week to open an investigation.
PHOTO JUSTIN TANG, THE CANADIAN PRESS
Michael Barrett
Conservatives accuse Justin Trudeau of changing his story three times after the story was revealed by the National Post at the beginning of January. “First he said he was the one paying. Then he was staying with someone and he didn’t have to pay, and then he was staying with these friends and he didn’t have to pay,” he argued.
They want to know which version the Prime Minister provided to Ethics Commissioner Konrad Winrich von Finckenstein before his trip. Their motion to have the commissioner testify at the standing committee on access to information, privacy and ethics was adopted unanimously, but their attempt to obtain correspondence between the prime minister and the commissioner regarding this trip to Jamaica was rejected by the Liberals, the Bloc Québécois and the New Democratic Party (NDP) given that these exchanges are confidential.
“We want to know if the commissioner was subjected to the same deception,” Mr. Barrett explained.
Bloc MP René Villemure stressed that an MP who asks the commissioner to explain the ethics rules to him will provide confidential information on a given situation before forming an opinion. “Confidentiality is precisely what allows trust to exist and we must have confidence in the system in question,” he argued.
Without this trust, MPs risk “not seeking the advice they should be seeking,” added NDP MP Daniel Blaikie. The NDP is calling for a review of the legislation.
“We are not talking about backbenchers, but about the Prime Minister of Canada based on his behavior and his history and the fact that he has already contravened the ethics law,” defended Mr. Barrett. He created a situation where it would be important for him to do the right thing and give this information to Canadians. »
The Conservatives also believe that it was inappropriate for Justin Trudeau to make such an expensive trip when people struggling with inflation are having difficulty making ends meet.
“He was born into a privileged environment and he continues to have a privileged lifestyle,” said conservative Larry Brock.
The Prime Minister’s spokesperson, Mohammad Hussain, indicated on January 4 that Justin Trudeau consulted the Conflict of Interest and Ethics Commissioner before his trip, and that he “reimburses the equivalent of a ticket commercial plane for his personal travel and that of his family” as he normally does.
The Conservatives argue that the Ethics Commissioner is not responsible for giving his seal of approval before an elected official’s vacation. His role is to explain the rules.
The Liberals tried to dilute the Conservative initiative on Wednesday by insisting that Mr. von Finckenstein be questioned about the rules for all travel and not just about Mr. Trudeau’s latest vacation to Jamaica.
“I hope that this conversation today will be about how Conflict of interest law works for all elected officials in the country, hoping that we can assess how we can ensure that this legislation contributes to Canadians’ confidence in democracy,” offered MP Iqra Khalid before the meeting.
PHOTO JUSTIN TANG, THE CANADIAN PRESS
Iqra Khalid (left)
She declined to say whether she agreed with the prime minister’s trip to Jamaica.
There Conflict of interest law allows politicians to accept gifts and other benefits only from relatives or family friends with whom they have well-documented close ties. Mr. Trudeau had already broken this rule when he was the guest of the Aga Khan for the family holiday vacation in 2016.
This is therefore not the first time that Justin Trudeau has made headlines with this type of escapade. In 2021, he apologized for spending the first-ever Truth and Reconciliation Day surfing in Tofino, British Columbia.
With Mélanie Marquis, The Pressand The Canadian Press