Trudeaus' Caribbean flight details redacted to exclude nanny, in-laws

The flight manifest for Prime Minister Justin Trudeau'sChristmas vacation to theCaribbean, released to the Conservatives through an access to information request, wasredactedto leave off thenames of family members and a nannywho travelled on the government-owned Challenger jet.

In January, the Prime Minister's Office refused to answer media questions about who flew withTrudeauto St. Kitts and Nevis, saying only that he enjoyed the holiday with family and with otherfriendswho made their way to the tropical island independently.

"As for thefriends of theTrudeaufamily who were also present in Nevis, they did not travel on the Challenger but made their own way there,"Andre-LyneHall, a spokeswoman for the PMO,said in an e-mail to CBC News at the time.

She said she couldn'tconfirm more detailswhen asked specifically for thenames ofpassengerswho travelledonboard the jet.

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But documents obtained by the Conservatives and shared with CBC News show two versions of the manifest for the exact same flight.

On a version released inMarch, there are five names listed Prime Minister Justin Trudeau,his wifeSophie Grgoire Trudeauand their three children, Hadrien, Ella-Grace and Xavier.

In June, another copy of the manifest was released to the Conservatives through an access to information (ATIP) requestshowing three additional names: Marian Pueyo, a nanny working for the Trudeau family, and Jean Grgoire and Estelle Blais, the prime minister'sin-laws.

Conservatives:'Smacks of a coverup'

The original manifest without the three additional nameswas released only weeks after it was reported that the Trudeaus had allocated part of their household budget to hire nannies to help care for their children, an expense that ignited a political firestorm.

"Ithink what's happened here should cause a lot of concern for Canadians. Somebody, somewhere hasn't been honest," Conservative MPBlaineCalkinssaid in an interview. "It is oddthat theonly peoplemissing on the flight manifest were the in-laws and the nanny.That smacks of a coverup."

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The Department of National Defence, which maintains mission reportsfor the Challenger,said Tuesday public servantsmade an "honest mistake"in initiallyremoving the names of the prime minister's in-laws and the family's nannyand that the PMO didn't instruct them to conceal anything.

"[The initial] Access to Informationrequest for Challenger jet flight passenger manifests contained information that was redacted because it was interpreted as personal information," Daniel Le Bouthillier, the head of media relations for National Defence, said in a statement.

"However, after the documents' release, a decision was made to clarify howSection 19.1of theActshould be interpreted and applied to this type of request.Once the interpretation of theActwas clarified, a new, less-redacted version of the documents was proactively provided to the requestor."

But the original document released didn't indicate where a redaction had been made. (Often information that is exempted from being released under ATIP is simply blacked out and not removed altogether.)

Calkinssaid the refusal of the Prime Minister's Office to initially answer media questions about who exactly travelled with Trudeau on the taxpayer-funded jetdefies their pledge to be open and transparent with Canadians. There is no justifiable reason neither privacy nor national security considerations why the threenames were left off the manifest, he said.

"The whole theme for them ispreach sunny ways and preach about openness and transparency and do the exact opposite," he said.

The Alberta MP saidfew Canadians would quibble with Trudeau vacationing with his family, but deliberately withholding the names of travellersfrom the public is suspicious. "They're clearly trying to avoid theoptics of the prime minister taking his family around the world on the taxpayer'sdime."

The PMO said it's not responsible for decisions made by National Defence's ATIP officers and what they choose to redact. "The error was in an ATIP and we don't control that," a spokesperson said in an e-mail.

PMspay equivalent of economy fares

Canadian prime ministers are not permitted to fly on commercial flights for security reasons. The round-trip to the Caribbean destinationcost taxpayers tens ofthousands of dollars because the Challenger jet's rate isroughly $12,500for an hour in the air.

Under the government's travel policy, family members are expected to repay the equivalent of an economy class fare, a policy that was in place under the previous Conservative government as well.

Trudeau did pay the economy fare for all of his family membersand the nanny, Pueyo who travelled with him to St. Kitts, a PMO spokesperson told CBC News.The costs associated with staying at the pricey resort in the West Indies were also personally covered by the prime minister and are therefore private.

The travel costs and salaries of a "residential staff member" acaregiver are eligible to be picked up by the government during the family's private travel, according to travel rules formalized by the Trudeau government in February.

"If a residential staff member is asked by the prime minister to accompany his or her family on personal travel as part of their duties, the government of Canada will cover the travel-related costs, if requested," the rules say, according to documents obtained by CBC News.

Former prime minister Stephen Harper also paid economy fare prices for personal travel with his family. One suchtrip to New York City over Labour Day weekend 2011 to see a Broadway show and take in a New York Yankees baseball gamecost taxpayersat least $45,000 for use of the Challenger.

Follow John Paul Tasker on Twitter @JPTasker