PM seen in Florida for family break

As another round of SNCLavalin revelations broke over the weekend, Justin Trudeau was spotted taking a breather in a remote corner of southwest Florida.

“Canada’s prime minister, embroiled in a political scandal, is now escaping to southwest Florida,” announced NBC 2, a local news affiliate who got exclusive word of the visiting national leader.

The broadcaster dispatched a reporter to North Captiva Island, a largely recreational island where Trudeau reportedly rented two large homes for his family and entourage. For much of the prime minister’s visit, the affiliate also kept up a live feed on the prime ministerial plane, a “maple-leafemblazoned” Bombardier Challenger parked at Page Field, a small airport close to Fort Myers, Fla.

North Captiva Island is accessible only by charter boat, and cars are banned, with the only motorized transportation being golf carts.

Trudeau appears to have been brought to the island by a vessel with U.S. Customs and Border Protection. The NBC2 report described a team of 40 Secret Service protecting the prime minister and his family from a fleet of golf carts. Trudeau’s typical bodyguards are plainclothes RCMP who closely resemble the Secret Service details that typically surround U.S. presidents and VIPS.

However, as a visiting dignitary, it’s possible that Trudeau was supplied with U.S. Secret Service agents for added protection. His visit did indeed pull in assistance from local law enforcement, including a marine unit of the local Lee County sheriff ’s office.

Trudeau is one of approximately 3.5 million Canadians who visit Florida every year, particularly during March Break, which is this week for Ontario schoolchildren. Canadians also constitute 27 per cent of the state’s foreign real estate buyers, purchasing $7 billion in Florida properties in 2017 alone.

The state is also notable as the frequent weekend getaway for the incumbent U.S. president, with Donald Trump’s Mar-a-lago resort located almost directly east of North Captiva Island on Florida’s east coast.

The Trudeau family has long ties to Florida, with Orlando being where Justin’s grandfather, Charles-émile Trudeau, died of a heart attack in 1935 while touring with the Montreal Royals baseball team, of which he was a part owner.

While the Canadian public is normally informed of Trudeau’s whereabouts, all bets are off when he takes private vacations. For a similar Florida vacation in early 2018, officials in the Prime Minister’s Office said only that he was “spending private time with his family in Florida.”

On Monday at approximately 6 p.m., the prime ministerial Challenger jet was seen departing Page Field.