By Quinn Patrick
Conservative MP Michael Barrett said he would like to see the rules surrounding acceptable gifts and trips for Members of Parliament to be reexamined in the wake of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s controversial Jamaican vacation.
Trudeau accepted an $80,000 trip to Jamaica over the Christmas holidays, paid for by Peter Green, a man Trudeau claimed to be an old family friend.
Canada’s interim ethics commissioner said that the vacation did not violate any rules and confirmed that Trudeau checked with him before accepting the gifted accommodation from his friend.
“He consulted us, and we advised him,” Konrad von Finckenstein told MPs on Tuesday, testifying before the House of Commons ethics committee regarding what the rules are in relation to gifts and trips.
Finkenstein told the committee that as far as his office was concerned, the matter has been dealt with and the case is closed.
However Barrett responded to Finkenstein’s position by saying that that the time has come to discuss a change in the rules, calling it “not sustainable.”