A Conflict of Interest

Yesterday, Justin Trudeau said “Sorry” to Canadians for appearing stupid. The Aga Khan had been generous with his private island and helicopter, allowing Trudeau and his family to celebrate Christmas in splendid seclusion last year. According to Trudeau, the Aga Khan was a family friend from way back when his father Pierre Elliott Trudeau was still alive. No harm, no foul: or so he thought.

There was just one little fly in that ointment: the Aga Khan is a registered lobbyist with the Canadian Government. Oops. Now the other shoe drops. This is influence peddling in its purest form.

In politics, appearance is everything. If you seem to carry around a sense of entitlement, you’ll soon come a cropper with the common man. Trudeau may be the Prime Minister, but he leads a party in the House of Commons; we tend to expect this kind of behaviour from the Senate House, where privilege is their middle name.

Ordinarily, I don’t comment on political infighting, but this misstep may cost the Liberals the next General Election in 2019.

After all, we expect our modern heroes to have feet of clay, but feet of Play-Doh? Never…

Courtesy of YouTube