{"id":63490,"date":"2017-01-16T17:27:20","date_gmt":"2017-01-16T17:27:20","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/usa.timesofnews.com\/?p=63490"},"modified":"2017-01-16T17:27:20","modified_gmt":"2017-01-16T17:27:20","slug":"ethics-watchdog-launches-investigation-into-trudeaus-vacation-in-the-bahamas","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/usa.timesofnews.com\/breaking-news\/political\/ethics-watchdog-launches-investigation-into-trudeaus-vacation-in-the-bahamas.html","title":{"rendered":"Ethics watchdog launches investigation into Trudeau&#8217;s vacation in the Bahamas"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Canada&#8217;s ethics commissioner has launched an investigation into Prime Minister Justin Trudeau&#8217;s\u00a0family vacation to the Aga Khan&#8217;s private island home in the Bahamas.<\/p>\n<p>In a letter to Conservative ethics critic Blain Calkins that is\u00a0stamped &#8220;Confidential&#8221;\u00a0and was obtained by CBC News, Mary Dawson said she is &#8220;satisfied&#8221; the\u00a0issues he has raised about Trudeau&#8217;s travel meet the requirements for an investigation.<\/p>\n<p>Last week, the MP wrote to Dawson pointing to potential violations of the Conflict of Interest Act related to the prime minister&#8217;s\u00a0use of the billionaire philanthropist&#8217;s private helicopter and his acceptance of hospitality from a &#8220;friend&#8221; whose foundation receives millions of dollars in funds from the federal government.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;I have therefore commenced an examination under subsection 44(3) of the Act to determine whether Mr. Trudeau has contravened sections 11 and 12 of the Act in connection with his recent stay at and travel to the Aga Khan&#8217;s privately owned island. I will also examine whether Mr. Trudeau\u00a0may have contravened his obligations under sections 6 and 21 of the Act.&#8221;<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong><a href=\"javascript:void(0)\">PM, family rode on private helicopter<\/a><\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong><a href=\"javascript:void(0)\">Watchdog considers ethics investigation<\/a><\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong><a href=\"javascript:void(0)\">Critics question PM&#8217;s guest list<\/a><\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>As first reported by the National Post, Trudeau and his family stayed at the Aga Khan&#8217;s home on Bell Island in the Bahamas for a post-Christmas family vacation. He publicly confirmed last week they\u00a0were taken there by the Aga Khan&#8217;s private helicopter.<\/p>\n<h2>Friends join family trip<\/h2>\n<p>The PMO has also confirmed\u00a0that <a href=\"javascript:void(0)\">Liberal MP\u00a0Seamus\u00a0O&#8217;Regan\u00a0and his husband, Steve\u00a0Doussis<\/a>, as well as Liberal Party president Anna\u00a0Gainey\u00a0and her husband, Tom\u00a0Pitfield,\u00a0were guests on the trip.<\/p>\n<p>Section 11 of the Conflict of Interest Act prohibits office holders from accepting gifts that might be seen to influence the recipient in an official power, duty or function, unless the gift is part of protocol or is from a relative or friend.<\/p>\n<p> <img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/usa.timesofnews.com\/wp-content\/plugins\/RSSPoster_PRO\/cache\/2dc22_ethics-watchdog-mary-dawson-20130211.jpg\" alt=\"Ethics watchdog Mary Dawson 20130211\" width=\"100%\" \/><\/p>\n<p class=\"figure-caption\">Mary Dawson, Canada&#8217;s ethics commissioner, will investigate whether Trudeau&#8217;s trip broke any sections of the Conflict of Interest Act. (Adrian Wyld\/Canadian Press)<\/p>\n<p>Section 12 bars ministers from accepting travel on non-commercial chartered or private aircraft for any purpose unless it is\u00a0required in his or her capacity as a public office holder or in exceptional circumstances or with prior approval of the Commissioner.<\/p>\n<p>Sections 6 and 21 require\u00a0public office holders to\u00a0recuse\u00a0themselves from discussion, decision, debate or vote on any matter in which they may be in conflict of interest.<\/p>\n<p>The prime minister&#8217;s own Open and Accountable Government guidelines also restrict sponsored travel unless it is\u00a0&#8220;exceptional circumstances and only with the prior approval&#8221; of the ethics commissioner.<\/p>\n<p>The prime minister\u00a0said he did not go to the ethics commissioner before\u00a0his trip.<\/p>\n<h2>Reimbursement for use of government plane<\/h2>\n<p \/>\n<p>Last week, the Canadian Armed Forces said\u00a0Trudeau had\u00a0reimbursed\u00a0$4,895.94 for personal use of the Challenger aircraft on Dec. 26, 2016, to fly to Nassau.\u00a0That is standard practice for personal use of the government plane.<\/p>\n<p>The reimbursement was to cover travel for Trudeau, his wife, Sophie Gr\u00e9goire Trudeau, their three children and nanny Nancy Peuyo.<\/p>\n<p>NDP Leader Thomas Mulcair\u00a0and NDP ethics critic Alexandre Boulerice wrote a letter to Dawson, calling the developments &#8220;deeply disturbing&#8221; and asking her to expedite part of the investigation to defend the importance of the act.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;We recognize that a full investigation of the inappropriate trip may take some time, but the use of private aircraft is a clear-cut violation that could be addressed more swiftly,&#8221; the letter reads.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;We are therefore requesting that you fast track this piece of your investigation and that you make a clear declaration that the Prime Minister has broken the law.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Provisions which allow for a $500 fine for violations of the act do not apply to the sections in question. That means the\u00a0maximum penalty Trudeau could face is a &#8220;notice of violation,&#8221; though a finding of a breach of the act would provide ammunition for the opposition parties to question the prime minister&#8217;s commitment to transparency and ethical conduct.<\/p>\n<p> <img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/usa.timesofnews.com\/wp-content\/plugins\/RSSPoster_PRO\/cache\/2dc22_trudeauoregan.jpg\" alt=\"trudeauoregan\" width=\"100%\" \/><\/p>\n<p class=\"figure-caption\">Prime Minister Justin Trudeau was joined by Newfoundland Liberal MP Seamus O&#8217;Regan and his husband on a family vacation to the Aga Khan&#8217;s private island property in the Bahamas. (CBC News)<\/p>\n<p \/>\n<p>Article source: http:\/\/www.cbc.ca\/news\/politics\/ethics-watchdog-trudeau-aga-khan-1.3937269?cmp=rss<\/a>\r\n<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Canada&#8217;s ethics commissioner has launched an investigation into Prime Minister Justin Trudeau&#8217;s\u00a0family vacation to the Aga Khan&#8217;s private island home in the Bahamas. In a letter to Conservative ethics critic Blain Calkins that is\u00a0stamped &#8220;Confidential&#8221;\u00a0and was obtained by CBC News, Mary Dawson said she is &#8220;satisfied&#8221; the\u00a0issues he has raised about Trudeau&#8217;s travel meet the [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":63491,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[84],"class_list":["post-63490","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-political","tag-political"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/usa.timesofnews.com\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/63490","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/usa.timesofnews.com\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/usa.timesofnews.com\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usa.timesofnews.com\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usa.timesofnews.com\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=63490"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/usa.timesofnews.com\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/63490\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usa.timesofnews.com\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/63491"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/usa.timesofnews.com\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=63490"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usa.timesofnews.com\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=63490"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usa.timesofnews.com\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=63490"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}