Trudeau attacked for taking ‘vacation’

Tory-approved site slams PM for personal day, trade and global summits

The personal is political. So, too, the “personal day.”

At least that seems to be the case after the partisan dogfight in Canadian politics veered into the prime minister’s work-life balance on Monday.

The Conservative party suggested on Twitter that Justin Trudeau takes too much time off, using his office’s public itinerary as fodder for a social media attack.

Though the tweet was soon deleted — it’s not clear why — the snipe brought up questions about what is reasonable for first ministers’ downtime.

“Justin Trudeau is taking yet another ‘personal’ day,” read the tweet from the Conservative party’s official account. Some pointed out that Monday was a civic holiday in Quebec, where much of the federal bureaucracy is based on the north side of the Ottawa River.

But the tweet was broadened with a link to a party-approved website that disparages Trudeau for several of his “vacations” as prime minister. IsJustinTrudeauOnVacation.ca features a landing page emblazoned with the word “YES,” referring to Trudeau’s day off as a “vacation.”

The site then lists trips Trudeau has taken in his capacity as prime minister — such as his trade mission to China in December — as well as his family vacation to the Aga Khan’s private island in late 2016, for which Trudeau was found to have broken Parliament’s conflict of interest law.

Spokespersons for Conservative Leader Andrew Scheer and the party did not respond to requests for comment about the tweet and website.

Cameron Ahmad, the deputy director of communications in the Prime Minister’s Office, said Canadians can see for themselves how much time off Trudeau is taking, because the office releases his daily itinerary to the media and publishes it on its website.

Since the beginning of June, for instance, Trudeau’s itineraries show he took six personal days, including Monday. During that time, Trudeau visited six provinces, campaigned in a byelection, hosted the French president in Ottawa and spearheaded a G7 summit in Quebec.

“Canadians and the media have a right to know where the prime minister is and what he’s generally doing,” Ahmad said.

“I would note that the previous prime minister” — Conservative Stephen Harper — “did not release a daily itinerary.”

Chad Rogers, a Conservative strategist and partner at Crestview Strategy, said it’s fair for Scheer’s party to go after the prime minister for taking time off, because Canadians should expect their elected leaders to make personal sacrifices on behalf of the public.

Rogers also said the Conservative attack plays into an effort by the party to paint Trudeau as a prime minister who “spends his time on silly things,” such as when he attended a musical in New York with Ivanka Trump. The party is drawing a “caricature” of Trudeau as a prime minister who doesn’t take the job seriously and is out of touch with most Canadians, Rogers said.

“The prime minister has to work harder than ordinary Canadians,” he said.

Greg MacEachern, a vicepresident at Proof Strategies who has ties to the Liberals, countered that attacking Trudeau for taking time off is inappropriate.

What if it turned out he was off because of a family emergency, MacEachern said.

There’s also the matter of attracting new people to the arena of politics, which could become harder if elected representatives are expected to work around the clock, he added.

MacEachern said it’s rare for politicians to find downtime in an era of 24-hour news feeds.

“It’s easy to make fun of politicians, but the reality is they do work really hard,” he said.

“The prime minister believes in the importance of spending time with his family, which should not be a bad thing.”