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Justin Trudeau controversies as Canada’s 23rd prime minister

Prime Minister of Canada, Justin Trudeau, has separated from his wife of 18 years, Sophie Grégoire Trudeau. This brings back…

Justin Trudeau controversies as Canada’s 23rd prime minister

Prime Minister of Canada, Justin Trudeau, has separated from his wife of 18 years, Sophie Grégoire Trudeau. This brings back to memory the other scandals that have rocked his prime ministership since his taking over as Prime minister in 2015. He led the Liberal Party to two minority victories in 2019 and 2021. Let’s go through a list of difficult questions he had to answer as Canada’s 23rd prime minister.

Tried to stop construction company from being prosecuted

The prime minister’s team broke ethics regulations, according to a declaration made in August 2019 by the independent ethics commissioner’s office, one of Canada’s top watchdogs. The office claimed that Trudeau and his representatives attempted to thwart a federal prosecutor’s decision to allow the construction corporation SNC-Lavalin Group Inc. to go on trial for corruption in 2018. Trudeau asserted that he accepted full responsibility but chose not to express regret because he had been working to preserve jobs. The first Canadian prime minister formally judged to have violated ethics laws is Justin Trudeau.

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Vacation on Aga Khan’s exclusive island

When Trudeau accepted a vacation on the Aga Khan’s exclusive island in 2016, the ethics watchdog determined that the prime leader violated some conflict of interest laws. The ethics watchdog first censured Trudeau in December 2017. The Aga Khan Foundation was formally registered to lobby Trudeau and his representatives at the time. Trudeau declared that he will discuss upcoming holidays with the watchdog after accepting the findings.

Questions raised on India visit

Throughout an eight-day visit to India in February 2018, the Trudeau family frequently wore extravagant colored costumes, drawing much criticism on social media, especially given that many of the Indian officials he met were dressed in suits. Jaspal Atwal, who was convicted in 1986 of trying to kill an Indian politician visiting Canada, was invited to a reception for Trudeau in New Delhi, which raised embarrassing concerns for the Canadian side of the trip.

Disparaging remark to an Indigenous woman

Trudeau, who lists assisting Canada’s neglected and underprivileged indigenous population as one of his top objectives, was compelled to issue an apology in March 2019 after making a disparaging remark to an indigenous woman who disrupted a Liberal Party fundraiser to voice her displeasure over substandard living circumstances. As she was led out of the room, he thanked her for her donation.

ElbowGate incident

In the ElbowGate incident in May 2016, an angry Trudeau crossed the floor of the House of Commons to grab a legislator after becoming frustrated with what he perceived as the opposition’s stalling tactics, but instead accidently elbowed a female parliamentarian in the breast. He constantly apologized for the incident, claiming that he was only human and under a lot of strain at work. He also pledged that his acts wouldn’t be repeated.

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