Trudeau road show offers PM no respite from questions about Aga Khan vacation

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s grassroots town-hall tour is offering no respite from questions about his family vacation on a secluded private island belonging to the Aga Khan.

Trudeau continues to defend his use of a private helicopter belonging to the wealthy spiritual leader, even though the federal Conflict of Interest Act expressly forbids such perks.

He says Canadians expect to have confidence in their government, which is part of the conversation he’ll be having with the federal ethics commissioner with regards to what he calls a “personal family vacation.”

The Aga Khan, however, appeared furthest from the minds of the ordinary Canadians who packed a hall in Peterborough, Ont., to give the prime minister a piece of their minds.

Soaring hydro rates in Ontario, the impact of carbon taxes. pipeline projects and the imminent presidency of Donald Trump were among the most popular lines of questioning.

Trudeau began his morning with soldiers in Quinte West and will stop in Toronto before another town hall tonight in London, Ont.

But he’s been under pressure all week about the hospitality he and his family enjoyed from the Aga Khan, a longtime family friend who also happens to be the spiritual leader of the world’s 15 million Ismaili Muslims.

The Trudeau entourage, which included a Liberal MP and the party’s president, travelled on a private helicopter once in Nassau because it was the only way to get to their ultimate destination, a private Bahamian island.

Both the Conflict of Interest Act and Trudeau’s own ethics guidelines bar the use of sponsored travel in private aircraft, allowing only for exceptional circumstances related to the job of prime minister and only with the prior approval of the ethics commissioner.

Trudeau has said he will discuss the matter with conflict of interest and ethics commissioner Mary Dawson “and answer any questions she may have.”

On Wednesday, Conservative MP Blaine Calkins asked Dawson to investigate Trudeau’s trip, a request that came a day after Tory leadership contender Andrew Scheer made a similar request.

Both complaints question whether it is OK for the prime minister to accept the hospitality of someone whose foundation receives funds from the Canadian government.

The Aga Khan Foundation has been the beneficiary of tens of millions of dollars in government contributions to international development projects.

The Aga Khan himself, while not a registered lobbyist, is a noted philanthropist and the hereditary spiritual leader of the world’s approximately 15 million Ismaili Muslims.

In 2009, then-prime minister Stephen Harper made him an honorary citizen of Canada.