Why is he not in jail? 🤬
Justin Trudeau spent Christmas on a billionaire's private island for free, seven months after he confirmed 15 million dollars for that billionaire's think tank. Canada's Ethics Commissioner ruled he broke the law, the first prime minister ever found to have done so. Taxpayers paid 215,398 dollars for the trip, and the law has no penalty for any of it.
The billionaire was the late Aga Khan, spiritual leader of the Ismaili Muslims. His charity, the Aga Khan Foundation Canada, received Canadian development money and was registered to lobby the Prime Minister's Office.
The ethics law bans gifts like that unless they come from a friend. Trudeau called the Aga Khan an old family friend. Commissioner Mary Dawson found they had no private contact at all until Trudeau became Liberal leader in 2013.
He had stayed on the island in December 2014, and his family in March 2016. In May 2016 he sat in on two discussions about an outstanding 15 million dollar grant for the Aga Khan's Global Centre for Pluralism and reaffirmed it. At Christmas he took the Aga Khan's private helicopter to the island. Liberal Party president Anna Gainey and MP Seamus O'Regan came along.
On December 20, 2017 Dawson ruled he broke four sections of the Conflict of Interest Act. Trudeau said he took full responsibility. The Act's only fines are for late paperwork, so there was no penalty. The RCMP declined to investigate.
The government first told Parliament the trip cost 127,187 dollars. Documents later showed 215,398. Trudeau repaid 4,895 for his family's and nanny's seats on the government jet. Three years later the RCMP still owed the island over 56,000 dollars for meals, rooms and jet skis.
In 2019 he was found breaking the same law again, over SNC-Lavalin. He won the elections of 2019 and 2021.
To be exact: the Commissioner did not find that the holiday bought anything. The 15 million was requested in 2013 and approved by the Harper government in 2015, and Trudeau reaffirmed it. The Foundation's development funding goes to projects abroad and long predates Trudeau. The registered lobbyist was the Foundation, not the Aga Khan himself.
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