OTTAWA — Opposition Conservatives are asking the RCMP to pursue a criminal investigation into Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's trip to the Aga Khan's private island six years ago, saying there's new evidence.
The Bahamian vacation Trudeau and his family embarked on in 2016 has re-emerged as an issue after the Conservative party received internal documents through an access-to-information request showing the force contemplated investigating him for fraud.
The federal ethics commissioner investigated the trips and in 2017 ruled the prime minister's acceptance of gifts breached conflict of interest rules because the Aga Khan was the founder of a charity that had received federal money.
Interim Conservative leader Candice Bergen has been pressing Trudeau about whether he used his power as prime minster to grant himself the authority to accept the gift.
Her question references a Criminal Code provision that says government officials cannot accept gifts from someone who has dealings with the government without written consent from the head of their government branch.
Bergen said Trudeau's response in the House of Commons Tuesday that he did not grant himself permission to accept the gift counts as new evidence, which means the RCMP should revisit the matter.
"There's a chance the prime minister of Canada has committed criminal fraud," Bergen said before Wednesday's Conservative caucus meeting, without taking any questions.
In a statement on Wednesday, RCMP spokeswoman Robin Percival said the force had examined all the information it had about the case at the time and determined that "it could not productively pursue a viable criminal investigation."
"A number of factors were taken into consideration in reaching a final decision," she wrote.
"This included the feasibility of a criminal investigation given a number of limitations such as judicial oversight, a higher evidentiary threshold and parliamentary privilege, as well as the likelihood of conviction."
This report by The Canadian Press was first published April 27, 2022.
Stephanie Taylor, The Canadian Press
