PM not a details man, Dawson report says

OTTAWA • The prime minister doesn’t have business meetings. He has relationship sessions. That’s the view Justin Trudeau outlined to the ethics commissioner during her probe of Trudeau’s family vacations to the Aga Khan’s private island, which ended with Mary Dawson finding the PM violated four parts of the conflict of interest act.

But her report also offers a glimpse into how Trudeau views the job as prime minister and how that shapes the inner workings of his government.

Some prime ministers view themselves as a CEO who sets ideas and are the face of the government, leaving the heavy lifting to their ministers or senior civil servants. Others consider themselves the CEO types who are more involved in the day-to-day operations.

Experts say Dawson’s report points to the former model for Trudeau.

When Dawson asked Trudeau about meetings where there was discussion with the Aga Khan about a $15-million grant to the billionaire philanthropist’s endowment fund of the Global Centre for Pluralism, the prime minister explained his lack of concern about being in the room.

Dawson described how Trudeau sees meetings as a way “to further develop a relationship between the individual and Canada” and his role in those meetings “as ceremonial in nature.”

“The meetings he (Trudeau) attends as Prime Minister are not business meetings,” Dawson wrote, recounting Trudeau’s words. “Rather, they are high-level meetings centred on relationship building and ensuring that all parties are moving forward together. Specific issues or details are worked out before, subsequently or independently of any meeting he attends.”

While the role of prime minister is often as facilitator, the prime minister is always on government business, said Alex Marland, a professor of political science at Memorial University in St. John’s, N.L.

“The prime minister is always operating in a business environment the moment that person becomes prime minister. It is totally ridiculous to me that you could somehow say no, I’m not doing this as prime minister.”

Dawson did determine the prime minister shouldn’t have been at the meetings.

Dawson’s concern was the Aga Khan’s gifts could reasonably be seen as a gift designed to influence the prime minister and give the religious leader an unfair advantage.

Trudeau maintains the Aga Khan is a close family friend, which would have exempted any gifts from conflict of interest rules. Dawson disagreed, noting phone conversations between the two were organized and done through “official channels.”

Dawson was curious: Do all the prime minister’s friends go through his officials for a friendly chat?

“Mr. Trudeau said that many of his close friends reach him directly. He said that other friends, who have assistants, will reach him through official channels,” Dawson wrote.