(Ottawa) New year, new journey, same story. The Prime Minister finds himself in trouble again while on vacation, this time because he and his family stayed at a luxury resort in Jamaica for free over the holidays.
Posted at 5:42 p.m
The Conservative Party accuses Justin Trudeau's office of misleading the public because, after pointing out that the family paid for their stay on the Caribbean island, his office clarified that the Trudeaus “stayed in friends' accommodation for free.” “accommodated by the family”.
The Prime Minister consulted the Conflicts of Interest and Ethics Commissioner before this trip and, as he normally does, “will reimburse the equivalent of a commercial airline ticket for his personal travel and that of his family,” his spokesman Mohammad Hussain added. on Thursday.
The exact location in Jamaica where Justin Trudeau and his family – his three children and their mother Sophie Grégoire, from whom he separated last August – were staying from December 26 to January 4 was not disclosed. However, according to our information, it is the Prospect domain, as first reported by the National Post.
At this complex, where a night in a villa can cost up to $7,000, the Trudeau clan celebrated the transition from 2022 to 2023. The trip drew the ire of the Conservatives because the property is owned by the Green family, an associate the Pierre Elliott Trudeau Foundation, who was in the hot seat at the time.
This time it is a form of deception that is denounced in the conservative camp. “Nothing is ever credible with Justin Trudeau. Why not explain at the outset that he would stay in Jamaica for free? » wrote MP Luc Berthold on Thursday on the X platform.
Last spring, the prime minister never responded directly to questions from the opposition benches about accommodation costs. However, he argued that his family and the Greens had been friends for “50 years.”
Justin Trudeau was not blamed for this escapade.
In 2017, the Prime Minister was slapped on the wrist by the Office of the Conflict of Interest and Ethics Commissioner over his stay on the Aga Khan's private island. In 2021, he apologized for spending the first-ever Truth and Reconciliation Day surfing in Tofino, British Columbia.