Ruling: Canadian leader cited for conflict of interest
TORONTO — Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau violated conflict of interest rules when he vacationed last Christmas at the private Bahamian island owned by the Aga Khan, the country’s federal ethics commissioner concluded Wednesday.
Mary Dawson said in a report that Trudeau broke conflict of interest laws that prohibit a minister from accepting gifts or advantages that could reasonably be seen as influencing government decisions.
The only exception is if the person providing the gift is a friend, but Dawson said that exception didn’t apply in this case of the Aga Khan, a philanthropist and hereditary spiritual leader to the world’s approximately 15 million Ismaili Muslims. Trudeau has repeatedly called the Aga Khan a longtime family friend who was a pallbearer at his father’s funeral. Late Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau and the Aga Khan were friends.
Dawson said the Aga Khan and his foundation were registered to lobby, and Justin Trudeau didn’t properly recuse himself on two occasions in May 2016 from government meetings about a 15 million Canadian dollar ($12 million) grant to the endowment fund of the Global Centre for Pluralism, where the Aga Khan is chairman of the board.
Trudeau said he was sorry he didn’t clear his vacation with the ethics commissioner and would in the future.
“I fully accept the report of the commissioner. Her responsibility is to protect the integrity of the office,” Trudeau said.
Trudeau isn’t expected to be sanctioned or penalized.