Trudeau’s vacation back with vengeance

There’s no problem with Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and his family going on vacation during a quiet period. What is problematic is the government misleading Canadians and taxpayers.

This all came to the fore again on Wednesday when the CBC reported on access to information documents that disclosed the cost of Trudeau’s holiday trip to the Bahamas is now clocking in at double the previous total.

Back in March, Canadians were told the cost to bring Trudeau and friends to the Aga Khan’s private island was $127,000. There were murmurs that this wasn’t the final cost, as some items were still being tallied.

That’s understandable if only as a reminder that government is an unwieldy beast, unable to keep tabs on all of its comings and goings and paperwork.

Yet what we learned this week wasn’t just that the price tag is now almost double the last amount — coming in at $215,000 — but also that it could go higher yet.

This price jump came from much higher costs on the part of the RCMP. In response, Trudeau told media he wasn’t going to nitpick over the choices the RCMP made to do their job. We get that and agree in principle.

But the PM needs to know how much these personal trips cost so he can factor this in

The much-spoken-of middle class Trudeau has pledged to champion doesn’t go on vacations like this, to private islands owned by billionaires.”

when making similar choices in the future.

The much-spoken-of middle class Trudeau has pledged to champion doesn’t go on vacations like this, to private islands owned by billionaires.

Most of them would have settled for a run-of-the-mill all-inclusive resort. That’s to say nothing of all the low-income Canadians for whom vacations just aren’t an option at all.

Meanwhile, Trudeau faces two separate investigations by the ethics commissioner over this trip.

The worst part of all of this, though, is the disclosure. From the beginning, the Prime Minister’s Office didn’t even want the media (and therefore the public) to know he was on vacation. And now all of this expense info comes out in drips and drabs.

Trudeau hasn’t offered any humility in this saga. Given how out of touch all this makes him look, he should rethink that approach.