It took two planes to pick up the Prime Minister from vacation
Trudeau is safely back in Canada after vacationing with his family.
On December 26, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, with his three children and Sophie Grégoire-Trudeau, with whom they announced their separation last summer, went on vacation to Jamaica. For security reasons, the current head of the Canadian government (like others before him) uses a military plane for personal use, among other things. But this time he let the prime minister down.
The Ministry of National Defense has reported a malfunction in the aircraft's systems that forced a second one, a CC-144 Challenger, to be sent to Jamaica. The malfunction was discovered on Tuesday, and fixed after the second plane arrived. Trudeau returned safely to Canada on Thursday.
This time Trudeau's vacation was paid for not by taxpayers, but by his friends. The prime minister's family stayed at an oceanfront villa owned by businessman Peter Green. The Green family has known Trudeau for decades and even donated money to the La Fondation Pierre Elliott Trudeau.
If Trudeau had stayed in the villa on a shared basis, the vacation would have cost CA$ 84,000 given the cost of staying there — CA$ 9,300 per night. However, the press service assured that the accommodation was free of charge:
"The Prime Minister and his family are staying with family friends at no cost."
In doing so, Trudeau has traditionally reimbursed the budget for airfare. He reimburses the equivalent of a commercial airplane ticket for personal use. The authorized ethics officer has approved this trip.
Trudeau's previous vacation to the Caribbean in April cost taxpayers about CA$ 162,000, with most of that amount going to security and personnel costs.
