Trudeau was given free stay at $9,300-a-night luxury Jamaican villa

Article content material

Over the vacations, the prime minister stayed in a non-public compound at a luxurious oceanfront resort in Jamaica that rents for over $9,300 per evening that was offered to him and his household for gratis by longtime buddies.

Justin Trudeau was scheduled to return to Ottawa on Thursday after the 10-day trip along with his three youngsters and spouse Sophie Grégoire Trudeau, from whom he legally separated in August.

Article content material

Article content material

The Prime Minister’s Workplace had not disclosed precisely the place in Jamaica the Trudeaus stayed, however photographs posted on social media throughout their journey present two members of the family enjoyable poolside on the Frankfort villa, a secluded beachfront enclave that’s a part of the Prospect Property resort close to Ocho Rios.

The resort is owned by the household of Peter Inexperienced, a businessman with ties to Trudeau’s household, relationship again to the Nineteen Seventies by his late father, Pierre Elliott Trudeau.

The Frankfort is one among 5 villas on the resort that may be rented out. Throughout what the resort calls the “festive interval” over Christmas holidays, the Frankfort is obtainable for US$7,000 per evening. The speed could be about $84,000 (Canadian) for the 9 nights the Trudeaus spent in Jamaica.

The household stayed on the identical resort final Christmas, however Trudeau’s workplace didn’t say then who had then paid for his or her lodging.

Earlier than this 12 months’s journey, the PMO initially instructed The Canadian Press that Trudeau could be paying for his household’s keep in Jamaica.

Article content material

Article content material

However after the Nationwide Submit this week inquired in regards to the extraordinarily excessive nightly fee, the PMO on Wednesday issued what was described as a “clarification” to the wire service, this time saying that the household had vacationed “for gratis at a location owned by household buddies.”

The journey was cleared upfront by new federal Ethics Commissioner Konrad von Finckenstein. The PMO stated the commissioner was instructed from the beginning that the Trudeaus’ lodging had been offered without cost to the household, the PMO says.

“As per commonplace observe, the Workplace of the Battle of Curiosity and Ethics Commissioner was consulted on these particulars previous to the journey to make sure that the foundations had been adopted,” stated PMO spokesman Mohammad Hussain in a textual content message to the Nationwide Submit.

Prospect Property describes Frankfort, probably the most secluded of its villas, as “a fortified residence relationship again to the seventeenth century” and says it’s “maybe probably the most fascinating north coast villa in Jamaica.”

The 5,000-square-foot villa gives six bedrooms with en suite loos in two buildings, sleeping 12 company, and a non-public swimming pool and sizzling tub simply steps away from a non-public white-sand seaside.

Article content material

The villa is absolutely staffed by a prepare dinner, gardener, housekeepers and butlers, in accordance with the resort’s web site.

(Images: https://www.prospect-villas.com/villa/frankfort/)

(Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?app=desktop&v=xwFovnGgfno)

Trudeau did pay partial prices of his household’s flight from Ottawa to Jamaica. For safety causes, the prime minister should journey by authorities plane when he goes on vacation. Trudeau has continued the observe, adopted by former prime minister Stephen Harper, of reimbursing the federal government for the worth of the equal business flights, however not the much-higher precise value of working the federal government jets.

On Trudeau’s journey to Prospect Property on the finish of 2022, the extra bills to maintain Canadian Armed Forces aircrews and the Royal Canadian Mounted Police protecting element in Jamaica value the federal government over $149,000. The Privy Council Workplace paid one other $14,000 to have a employees member keep close by the resort to make sure a safe cellphone line was out there to the prime minister throughout his trip.

In April, Trudeau confronted questions on a possible battle of curiosity over the December 2022 journey to Prospect Property as a result of Inexperienced’s household has donated previously to the Pierre Elliott Trudeau Basis, which the prime minister’s household is linked to.

Article content material

In 2021, Inexperienced’s sons, Alexander and Andrew, each from Bermuda, had funded a Trudeau Basis scholarship honouring their late mom, Mary-Jean Mitchell Inexperienced.

Inexperienced died of breast most cancers in 1990. She had inherited the Prospect Property resort from her father, Sir Harold Mitchell. The possession later handed to her husband Peter Inexperienced, a Bermuda resort magnate who was a good friend of Pierre Trudeau’s. The elder Trudeau was godfather to Inexperienced’s son Andrew. A 2005 information report put the worth of the Inexperienced property at 600 million kilos.

The PMO denied any battle between the prime minister’s earlier keep at Prospect Property and the Greens’ donation to the Trudeau basis, noting that Justin Trudeau has not been personally concerned with the muse since changing into Liberal social gathering chief in 2013.

When questioned in regards to the earlier journey within the Home of Commons by Pierre Poilievre, Trudeau replied that the Conservative chief struggled with the idea of friendship.

“My father was godfather to one among their youngsters, their father was godfather to one among my brothers. That is 50 years of friendship,” he stated.

At Pierre Trudeau’s funeral in 2000, Alexander Inexperienced learn a short prayer earlier than Justin Trudeau delivered his eulogy.

Nationwide Submit

Our web site is the place for the newest breaking information, unique scoops, longreads and provocative commentary. Please bookmark nationalpost.com and join our politics publication, First Studying, right here.

Article content material