Conservatives ask Ethics commissioner to probe latest Trudeau Jamaica trip

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OTTAWA — Conservatives are asking the ethics commissioner to probe Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s vacation trip at a $9,300 per night time Jamaican resort that was a present from longtime mates.

In a letter to interim Ethics Commissioner Konrad von Finckenstein Tuesday, Conservative MP Michael Barrett questioned whether or not the Prime Minister’s Workplace had given all of the info to the federal government’s ethics watchdog who cleared the journey.

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A key subject for Barrett is the truth that the PMO initially advised reporters in December that Trudeau and his household could be travelling to Jamaica on Dec. 26 and masking the price of their 10-day keep.

However after Nationwide Publish despatched extra questions in regards to the journey in early January, the PMO modified its tune, saying that the household had in truth vacationed “for gratis at a location owned by household mates.”

The Publish then revealed that Trudeau, Sophie Grégoire Trudeau and their three youngsters stayed on the Frankfort villa, a beachfront property that’s a part of an property owned by the Inexperienced household, longtime mates of the Trudeaus relationship again to Pierre Trudeau.

The Frankfort villa rents for over $9,300 per night time in the course of the Christmas holidays, based on the Prospect Property web site. The Trudeaus stayed on the similar property in the course of the 2022 Christmas holidays as nicely, although it’s unknown which of the property’s 5 villas they stayed at that 12 months.

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PMO has repeatedly mentioned that it consulted with von Finckenstein’s workplace “to make sure the foundations have been adopted” earlier than Trudeau and the household jetted off to Jamaica.

In his letter, Barrett requested the commissioner if Trudeau had been forthcoming in regards to the truth he was staying at a good friend’s luxurious property at no cost. And if not, the MP requested him to analyze the matter.

“Did the Prime Minister and/or his workplace proactively confide in you that the lodging being offered shouldn’t be a part of a good friend’s private residence however a resort facility that’s usually rented out at a industrial fee of upwards of $7,000 USD per night time? Or was a misunderstanding given of a Prime Minister merely staying at a good friend’s residence?” Barrett wrote.

“If there’s any daylight between the image painted for you and the truth which has borne out, it could appear you would have been the sufferer of a deliberate deception, and, subsequently, I consider it’s incumbent on you to think about whether or not the Prime Minister has as soon as once more violated federal ethics legal guidelines,” he added.

That is the second 12 months in a row the prime minister and his household journey to the Inexperienced household’s Jamaica property for the winter holidays, and the second time the journey raises eyebrows.

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After his 2022 journey to the Inexperienced’s Jamaican property, the prime minister confronted questions over the very fact the Inexperienced household had made a sizeable donation to the Pierre Elliott Trudeau Basis in 2021 by funding a scholarship honouring their late mom.

The PMO has repeatedly insisted over time that Trudeau reduce all private ties to the muse when he was elected Liberal celebration chief in 2013.

But when Trudeau’s newest Jamaica journey is in any respect just like the one he took in 2022, it seems unlikely the ethics commissioner will take subject with it.

Usually, the Battle of Curiosity Act prohibits ministers from accepting any items or benefits that might be seen to affect them of their duties. There are some exceptions, and ministers should declare permissible items value over $200 to the commissioner’s workplace. These items are additionally made public within the commissioner’s on-line public registry.

However items from a “relative or good friend” are acceptable and don’t must be declared within the public registry insofar because the benefactor has personally paid for it.

“Examples are items or different benefits provided in a private setting and on a private event, equivalent to a birthday, wedding ceremony, anniversary or retirement,” the ethics commissioner’s workplace explains on its web site.

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Trudeau’s 2022 journey to the Inexperienced household’s Jamaican property doesn’t seem within the ethics commissioner’s public present registry. “If nothing is within the public registry (30 to 60 days after the present, relying on the case), then it isn’t a present that requires declaration,” CIE spokesperson Melanie Rushworth mentioned in an electronic mail Wednesday in regards to the journey.

In March, three months after that journey, the commissioner’s workplace additionally advised Nationwide Publish there have been no ongoing ethics investigations on the time, which suggests then-commissioner Mario Dion accepted that the journey in query was an appropriate present from a good friend of Trudeau’s.

Wednesday, Rushworth additionally confirmed that PMO consulted the commissioner’s workplace previous to the holiday however was not allowed to say what info it offered nor if it had since launched a probe into the newest journey.

In his letter, Barrett additionally questioned if the Inexperienced household’s provide of a free keep at their rental property was akin to paying out of pocket for a present.

“Was it disclosed to you whether or not the $84,000 profit the Prime Minister could be receiving was paid for personally by a good friend, or by an organization?,” he wrote.

PMO spokesperson Mohammad Hussain mentioned he had “nothing so as to add” Wednesday to earlier statements on Trudeau’s newest Jamaica journey.

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