Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is traveling to Costa Rica for a two week vacation with his family.
The Prime Minister’s Office said the family were returning to the same place they stayed over the Christmas holidays in 2019 and paying for their own accommodation.
The prime minister has to fly on a Royal Canadian Air Force plane for security reasons – even for personal trips – and the family’s flights on the last trip to and from Costa Rica cost the government around $57 $000, without thousands of additional dollars being spent on flight crew stays in San José.
That said, there have been exceptions to these flight rules. Earlier this summer, for example, Trudeau flew on an RCAF plane to Munich, Germany, to attend the G7 summit, but was transported to the summit site in the Bavarian Alps on board. of a German police helicopter. This exception has been approved by the competent authorities according to the main aides of the Prime Minister’s Office.
But in 2017, Trudeau used an RCAF jet to fly from Ottawa to Nassau, Bahamas, and from there flew in a private helicopter to the Bahamian island owned by the Aga Khan. Trudeau did not authorize this flight with the competent authorities. This flight, along with the free vacation he received from the Aga Khan, was later ruled by Parliament’s Conflict of Interest and Ethics Commissioner as a violation of federal conflict of interest laws.
The Prime Minister’s Office says it has consulted with the Ethics Commissioner’s office about the upcoming vacancies.
The Prime Minister’s Office says Trudeau will receive regular briefings while he is away.
– with files by David Akin
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