Last week, Prime Minister Trudeau shuffled his cabinet, demoting and even kicking a Liberal MP to the curb, and promoting new faces to prominent cabinet positions. The Minister of Foreign Affairs and former Liberal Party Leader, Stéphane Dion, abruptly quit the Liberal Caucus and was given a cushy ambassador role to a location to be determined later. Chrystia Freeland is now the new Minister of Foreign Affairs. After her poor performance as the Minister of Democratic Institutions and the whole “being-born-in-Iran and not knowing about it” thing, Maryam Monsef was moved to a lower-profile position as the Minister of Status of Women. As True North’s Candice Malcolm points out – this was a clear demotion.
It’s also worth noting the John McCallum is no longer the Immigration Minister. Instead, McCallum will become Canada’s new Ambassador to China. China is not normally a destination for politically connected ambassadors, but as the Liberals attempt to cozy up to the People’s Republic of China, this move doesn’t come as a surprise. Ahmed Hussen, a Liberal MP from Toronto, is now the new Immigration Minister.
Some questioned the timing of Trudeau’s cabinet shuffle and suggested that he was attempting to change the news cycle. Days before the cabinet shuffle, after the PMO failed to disclose the Prime Minister’s whereabouts, it was revealed that Prime Minister was on Christmas vacation in the Bahamas – he just so happened to be on the private island of the Aga Khan, a spiritual leader but more importantly, a registered Lobbyist. Trudeau’s vacation was definitely a conflict of interest; the ethics commissioner has started a preliminary review.
This story continues to develop despite Trudeau’s best attempt to bury it with his taxpayer funded campaign tour. On Thursday, Trudeau admitted that he travelled on the Aga Khan’s private helicopter during his secret vacation to the Aga Khan’s private island. This vacation not only appears to be a conflict of interest, but also, the Prime Minister may have broken federal law and the government’s own rules on ministerial behavior.
Time after time, Justin Trudeau just can’t seem to distinguish his private lifestyle from his public role as prime minister.
