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Federal Ethics Commissioner Mary Dawson this week gave the prime minister a Christmas gift: She released her damning report into his unethical behaviour only after the House of Commons had risen for its seasonal break. That saves Justin Trudeau weeks of daily interrogation at the hands of the opposition. By the time politicians return in late January, perhaps everyone will have moved on.

They shouldn’t. Dawson has raised crucial issues; the timing of her conclusions doesn’t make Trudeau’s four breaches of the Conflict of Interest Act any less significant.

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Here are some things the ethics commissioner, hitherto not known for her harsh crackdowns on elected officials, reveals in her report:

• Trudeau breached the act when he accepted the Aga Khan’s “gift of hospitality” – i.e a Christmas vacation on his private island in the Bahamas last year. He had also accepted a vacation for himself and his family in 2014. His wife, Sophie Grégoire-Trudeau, and the kids travelled to the Caribbean again in March 2016. Since the Aga Khan was a registered lobbyist with the government and the Prime Minister’s Office, Dawson concluded the free vacations could reasonably be seen as a way to influence the prime minister. Trudeau and his family also travelled twice on private aircraft provided by the Aga Khan, in breach of the rules.