PM SHOULD ANSWER TO ETHICS PANEL
Talk about dodging a bullet. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau was caught tongue-tied in late December when outgoing ethics commissioner Mary Dawson released her report on the PM’s Aga Khan vacation.
She found that he violated four provisions of the Conflict of Interest Act. It was a damning report. But Trudeau got off easy.
It all happened after Parliament had gone on Christmas break, so the opposition parties couldn’t as readily assemble to plan responses. There was no question period in the House of Commons through which to grill the PM and hold him to account. Plus Canadians were about to tune out the news cycle to spend time with family over the holidays. Sure, the story generated front page headlines for several days, but then it was all over.
This was the first time a sitting PM had ever been found to have broken a federal statute while in office. It was massive news. And then it fizzled away. This story needs to be kept alive. Parliamentarians need to hold the PM to account when they return to Ottawa.
Now they’re trying to do just that. Conservative MPs sitting on the House of Commons ethics committee want Trudeau to appear before them later this month to answer questions about his trip.
According to a CBC News report, those questions would include who else was on the Aga Khan’s island at the time and whether Trudeau plans to reimburse Canadians for the $200,000 cost of the trip, which Dawson’s report has now effectively ruled was improper.
Conservative MP Peter Kent, who sits on the committee, told the Toronto Sun in December that he believes Trudeau should pay back the costs.
We agree with Kent. There’s nothing wrong with a PM going on vacation, especially during a quiet time like Christmas. Yes, there will be costs associated with such a trip, but we want our leaders to be secure in their travels.
Now we’ve learned the whole trip was a bad idea. Taxpayer money was spent on a visit that shouldn’t have happened in the first place.
If Trudeau is as serious about transparency and accountability as he claims, he’ll take the committee up on its offer.