EDITORIAL: Trudeau must seriously reflect on ethics ruling

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For this year’s holiday season, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau absolutely needs to avoid a splashy vacation.

Not just because ethics commissioner Mary Dawson has just found him guilty of violating four sections of the Conflict of Interest Act related to his vacation last year.

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But because he needs to spend the time in sombre reflection, perhaps indulging in an ounce or two of humility.

Dawson’s report is bad news for Trudeau – the first time in Canadian history a sitting prime minister has been in violation of a federal statute. It isn’t business as usual.

For all Trudeau’s sanctimonious and negative insults about the conduct of former prime minister Stephen Harper, the previous PM never was subject to ethical censure such as this.

Trudeau promised he’d be better than Harper. He promised transparency and accountability. Instead, he stonewalls, denies and shrugs.

His decision to accept a trip to billionaire Aga Khan’s private island, his decision to take a private helicopter, and his decision to not recuse himself from government meetings about projects connected to the Aga Khan – all are now clearly revealed as ethically suspect decisions based on Dawson’s findings.

Yet throughout this past year, during the initial media reporting on the trip that his office tried to keep quiet, and again during the unfolding of Dawson’s investigation, Trudeau maintained he had done no wrong.

He argued the Aga Khan was a long-term family friend, despite the long gap in their acquaintance. But family friend or not, the optics were terrible. To the average Canadian, the whole situation certainly had the appearance of a conflict. And Wednesday Dawson confirmed this.

Trudeau’s defiance and lack of humility throughout this whole process is troubling. His comments to media on Wednesday showed little remorse and little understanding of his ethical breach.

“Justin Trudeau needs to recognize that when he occupies the Prime Minister’s seat, it is not enough to simply comply with the law – something Justin Trudeau didn’t even do in this case – but to be better,” Conservative leader Andrew Scheer said following Dawson’s release.

Scheer said Trudeau must “set the highest standard. To answer questions fully. To tell the truth.”

Trudeau needs to do some serious soul-searching this holiday season. He set a high bar, and failed to meet it.