(Ottawa) Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's office said he and his family were “accommodated free of charge in family friend accommodation” during their Jamaican vacation, after initially saying the family was paying for his stay.
Posted at 7:47 p.m.
Stephanie Taylor The Canadian Press
The prime minister's office said in a statement on Wednesday that the federal ethics commissioner “was consulted before the trip to ensure compliance with applicable rules.”
The office offered the clarification the day before Mr. Trudeau ended his vacation on the Caribbean island. He was there with Sophie Grégoire and their three children.
Mr. Trudeau and Ms. Grégoire announced last summer that they were separating after 18 years of marriage, with both saying in separate statements that they would remain close.
Before the family left for Jamaica on Boxing Day, Mr. Trudeau's office said it had consulted with the ethics commissioner and that the family would cover the cost of their stay and that they would reimburse the cost of public transportation on a government plane become.
“The Prime Minister continues to reimburse the equivalent of a commercial airline ticket for his personal travel and that of his family,” his office said on Wednesday.
Officials declined to say where Mr. Trudeau was staying.
However, CBC and Radio-Canada reported last spring that during their recent New Year's Eve trip to Jamaica, the family stayed at a luxury property owned by Peter Green, whose family has known the Trudeaus for decades.
The public broadcaster said at the time that the prime minister's office had refused to say whether Mr. Trudeau paid for his own accommodation.
Mr. Trudeau's trip to the Aga Khan's private island in the Bahamas after Christmas Day 2016 earned him a reprimand for violating conflict of interest rules.
Former commissioner Mary Dawson ruled that Mr. Trudeau's vacation violated the law that prohibits ministers from accepting gifts or “perks” that could be seen as an attempt to influence government business.
She concluded that the exception that applies when the gift comes from a friend was not valid in this case. Mr. Trudeau and the Aga Khan, a friend of his father, had little or no contact in the 30 years before he was elected leader of the Liberal Party.
A spokeswoman for Canada's Office of Conflicts of Interest and Ethics said Wednesday that it could not release details of the information Mr. Trudeau's office provided about his Jamaica vacation, citing confidentiality requirements enshrined in its conflict of interest rules.
“The Office’s mission is solely to ensure that the gift provisions of the Act and the Code are complied with,” Jocelyne Brisebois argued in a written statement.
“Note that there is an exception in the law that allows a public office holder to accept gifts or other benefits from a relative or friend and that such gifts do not require public disclosure. »