Liberal Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau told the nation’s House of Commons Tuesday that he has attended lavish fundraisers for his family’s foundation to “create economic growth for the middle class.” His defense of his participation in fundraisers thrown by the Pierre Trudeau Foundation – which he renounced his official position in upon becoming the leader of the Liberal Party – follows an admission that he allowed attendees to lobby him at these fundraisers, a clear violation of Liberal Party bylaws. The metastasizing cash-for-access scandal follows a calamitous month for Canada’s Liberals in which, partly triggered by Trudeau’s effusive praise for dictator Fidel Castro, public approval of the Liberal Party dropped 9 percentage points. Confronted by Conservative Party leader Rona Ambrose in the House of Commons Tuesday, Trudeau insisted that his presence at Trudeau Foundation fundraisers was a ploy to defend middle class interests. “No matter where I am or who I am talking to I always talk about the same thing: The fact that our priorities are to create economic growth for the middle class,” Trudeau said Tuesday, responding to a barbed question from Ambrose: “When did money become more important than the integrity of his office?” He insisted that, at
Meltdown: Justin Trudeau Defends Presence at Elite Fundraisers as Approval Plummets
Liberal Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau told the nation’s House of Commons Tuesday that he has attended lavish fundraisers for his family’s foundation to “create economic growth for the middle class.” His defense of his participation in fundraisers thrown by the Pierre Trudeau Foundation – which he renounced his official position in upon becoming the leader of the Liberal Party – follows an admission that he allowed attendees to lobby him at these fundraisers, a clear violation of Liberal Party bylaws. The metastasizing cash-for-access scandal follows a calamitous month for Canada’s Liberals in which, partly triggered by Trudeau’s effusive praise for dictator Fidel Castro, public approval of the Liberal Party dropped 9 percentage points. Confronted by Conservative Party leader Rona Ambrose in the House of Commons Tuesday, Trudeau insisted that his presence at Trudeau Foundation fundraisers was a ploy to defend middle class interests. “No matter where I am or who I am talking to I always talk about the same thing: The fact that our priorities are to create economic growth for the middle class,” Trudeau said Tuesday, responding to a barbed question from Ambrose: “When did money become more important than the integrity of his office?” He insisted that, at