Conservatives push for Trudeau ethics probe, claim ‘troubling’ ties between PM and foundation

by Christopher Nardi

Trudeau ‘shouldn’t be a member of something that is not a Crown corporation and that has ongoing dealings with government,’ MP Michael Barrett wrote

The Conservatives are asking the federal Ethics Commissioner to investigate “troubling” ties between Liberal leader Justin Trudeau and the Pierre Elliott Trudeau Foundation, including the fact he was still a member of one of the organization’s governing bodies while prime minister.

“I urge you to open investigations into whether Justin Trudeau may have breached (ethics laws) in respect of his relationship to the Pierre Elliott Trudeau Foundation as one of its powerful ‘family members’,” Conservative candidate Michael Barrett wrote in a letter to Ethics Commissioner Mario Dion on September 1 and obtained by the National Post.

The question at the heart of the issue: Could Trudeau continue to sit on one of the foundation’s governing bodies — a non-partisan charity created in 2001 thanks to a $125 million contribution from the federal government to fund and promote academic research — as a “succession member” while he was an MP and then prime minister?

No, according to both the Conservatives and Democracy Watch, a democratic accountability watchdog, who point to the foundation’s monetary ties with the federal government and the “powerful” position that Trudeau holds.

full story at https://nationalpost.com/news/politics/conservatives-push-for-trudeau-ethics-probe-claim-troubling-ties-between-pm-and-foundation

Categorised in: Canadian News