The Canadian prime minister, Justin Trudeau, contravened some conflict of interest rules when he accepted a vacation last year on a private island belonging to the Aga Khan, the country’s ethics watchdog said on Wednesday.
The conflict of interest and ethics commissioner, Mary Dawson, said Trudeau contravened a rule on gifts when he accepted the use of the island in March and December 2016, while there were ongoing official dealings with the Aga Khan and the Aga Khan Foundation Canada was registered to lobby Trudeau’s office.
“The vacations accepted by Mr Trudeau or his family could reasonably be seen to have been given to influence Mr Trudeau in his capacity as prime minister,” Dawson said.
Justin Trudeau’s holiday on Aga Khan’s island comes under investigation Read more
While Trudeau says the Aga Khan is a family friend, Dawson found the exception for gifts from friends did not apply.
Trudeau said he accepted her report and would clear future vacations with the watchdog.
“I take full responsibility for it. We need to make sure that the office of the prime minister is without reproach,” Trudeau said.
Trudeau and his family vacationed on the island in late December 2016 into January this year, while members of his family and their guests traveled there in March 2016.
Trudeau has come under fire from the opposition, who have said the luxury Bahamas vacation was inappropriate and showed the Liberal government is out of touch with average Canadians.
The opposition has also accused Finance Minister Bill Morneau of being in a conflict of interest for not putting his assets in a blind trust. He has since said he will do so and has divested his stock in his family business.
Trudeau has said he has known the Aga Khan, Prince Shah Karim Al Husseini, since childhood. The Aga Khan, the title held by the leader of the Ismaili branch of Shi’a Islam, was a pallbearer at the funeral of Justin’s father, former prime minister Pierre Elliott Trudeau.
Trudeau also contravened the rules when he and his family travelled in the Aga Khan’s private helicopter last December and when his family traveled on a non-commercial aircraft chartered by the Aga Khan in March 2016, Dawson said.
Trudeau also went against the rules by not recusing himself from discussions that “provided an opportunity to further private interests associated with institutions of the Aga Khan”, the investigation found.
However, Trudeau did not discuss any parliamentary business with the Aga Khan or his representatives, the report said.
OTTAWA (Reuters) - Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau broke some conflict of interest rules when he accepted a vacation last year on the Aga Khan’s private island, the ethics watchdog said on Wednesday, the first time a prime minister has been found to have committed such a transgression.
While the finding could tarnish Trudeau’s popularity half-way into his mandate, he does not face any penalties.
Conflict of Interest and Ethics Commissioner Mary Dawson said Trudeau contravened a rule on gifts when he accepted the use of the island in March and December 2016, while there were ongoing official dealings with the Aga Khan and the Aga Khan Foundation Canada was registered to lobby Trudeau’s office.
“The vacations accepted by Mr. Trudeau or his family could reasonably be seen to have been given to influence Mr. Trudeau in his capacity as Prime Minister,” Dawson said.
While Trudeau says the Aga Khan is a family friend, Dawson found the exception for gifts from friends did not apply.
Trudeau said he accepted her report and would clear future vacations with the watchdog.
“I take full responsibility for it. We need to make sure that the office of the prime minister is without reproach,” Trudeau said.
Trudeau and his family vacationed on the island during the holidays in late December 2016 into January this year. Members of his family visited in March 2016.
Trudeau has come under fire from the opposition, who have said the luxury Bahamas vacation was inappropriate and showed the Liberal government is out of touch with average Canadians.
The opposition has also accused Finance Minister Bill Morneau of being in a conflict of interest for not putting his assets in a blind trust. He has since said he will do so and has divested his stock in his family business.
Trudeau says he has known the Aga Khan, Prince Shah Karim Al Husseini, since childhood. The Aga Khan, the title held by the leader of the Ismaili branch of Shi‘ite Islam, was a pallbearer at the funeral of Justin’s father, former Prime Minister Pierre Elliott Trudeau.
Trudeau also contravened the rules when he and his family traveled in the Aga Khan’s private helicopter last December and when his family traveled on a non-commercial aircraft chartered by the Aga Khan in March 2016, Dawson said.
However, she found no evidence Trudeau discussed any parliamentary business with the Aga Khan or his representatives, or participated in any related debates or votes.
Speaking with reporters, Mr. Trudeau said he accepted the report’s findings and would clear future personal holidays through the ethics commissioners’ office. He also apologized.
“It is important that as we move forward, we learn from this mistake,” Mr. Trudeau said.
The apology did not satisfy opposition parties in Parliament, whose members have repeatedly used the daily question period to challenge the prime minister about the trip.
“I had a lot of hope in this government, I had a lot of hope in this prime minister,” Jagmeet Singh, the leader of the New Democratic Party, told reporters. “What we’ve learned today is Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has broken the law — there is no other way to put it but that he has broken the law with respect to ethics.”
Of Mr. Trudeau and his Liberal Party colleagues, Mr. Singh added, “They exist in a world where they don’t understand the realities of everyday Canadians.”
Canada has been a particular focus of the Aga Khan’s charitable efforts, in part because the country accepted about 7,000 Ismaili Muslims as refugees in 1971 after they had been expelled from Uganda by the dictator Idi Amin.
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Last year, according to tax records, the government of Canada gave 49 million Canadian dollars, or about $63 million, to the Aga Khan Foundation Canada. The previous Conservative government matched a donation from the Aga Khan of 30 million Canadian dollars to open a Global Center for Pluralism in Ottawa. The Aga Khan has also set up other institutions in Canada, without any government contribution, including a major museum of Muslim art in Toronto.
The ethics investigation hinged on two questions. The first was whether Mr. Trudeau broke Canadian law by accepting a ride on the Aga Khan’s personal helicopter from Nassau to the compound at Bells Cay. The other issue was whether the Aga Khan was Mr. Trudeau’s personal friend. Under Canadian law, the prime minister can accept gifts like holidays from friends and family members.
Pierre Trudeau, the former prime minister and father of the current one, was close to the Aga Khan, whom he first met in the 1960s. The elder Mr. Trudeau welcomed the refugees from Uganda at the Aga Khan’s request.
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Repeatedly on Wednesday, Justin Trudeau described the Aga Khan as a “close family friend.” But in her report, Ms. Dawson found that their only contact between 1983 and 2013 was at the funeral of Pierre Trudeau 17 years ago, when the Aga Khan served as a pallbearer.
“There were no private interactions between Mr. Trudeau and the Aga Khan until Mr. Trudeau became leader of the Liberal Party of Canada,” Ms. Dawson wrote. “This led me to conclude that their relationship cannot be described as one of friends for the purposes of the act.”
And while the report supported Mr. Trudeau’s earlier comments in which he said that the Royal Canadian Mounted Police recommended that for security reasons he use the Aga Khan’s helicopter for the 65-mile trip to the island retreat, Ms. Dawson rejected his contention that there were no other viable travel options.
“The circumstances surrounding the acceptance of the private air travel were not exceptional,” she wrote. Canadian cabinet ministers and other public officials were barred from accepting flights on private aircraft several years ago after it emerged that some corporations were regularly providing them with air service.
While opposition politicians had focused on the trip last Christmas, the report found that Mr. Trudeau or his family had been the guests of the Aga Khan on three occasions. Their first was in December 2014. And in March 2016, Mr. Trudeau’s wife, Sophie Grégoire Trudeau, and a friend traveled with their children to the island.
Mr. Trudeau said Wednesday that his family had a “standing invitation from the Aga Khan.”
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