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It's hard to know what Trudeau was thinking, or why he had such difficulty coming up with a response

To Trudeau’s thinking, however, the Aga Khan was a close personal friend and mentor, even though they hadn’t communicated until Trudeau became important. The fact that the Aga Khan treated previous prime ministers just as companionably didn’t alter his view that their relationship was different. He felt he could treat “Uncle K” as part of his inner circle, yet maintain a strictly hands-off approach to any interests he might have. Despite the delicacy of such an arrangement, and his own prime ministerial sermonizing about high standards, it never occurred to him that soliciting freebie vacations might be seen in a negative way.

Dawson points out that the test of high-level gift-giving “is not whether the individual offering the gift … intended to influence the recipient, or whether the recipient was indeed influenced,” but whether “a reasonable person with knowledge of the relevant facts” might view it that way. The offence is in the perception, not the act.

As Barton inquired, how could Trudeau not see this? Perhaps it’s because he shares so little experience with ordinary Canadians. It’s natural to him that a figure of global importance would want to be his friend, and invite him to his Paris home and his Bahamas island. It doesn’t strike him as contradictory that his government could regularly hold wealthy Canadians up to criticism and ridicule, while embracing a billionaire business magnate who inherited his title and the leadership of 15 million Muslims in 25 countries, who view him as a direct descendant of the prophet Muhammad. It didn’t occur to him that people might expect him to pay his way, or find someplace a little less august, closer to home. (This year, notably, the Trudeaus are vacationing in the Rockies.)

That’s what happens when you’re accustomed to privilege. Some people aspire to privilege, others are born to it. Trudeau is the latter. He has always been treated as special. Like the Aga Khan, he’s from the aristocracy. The world is different for them. No wonder they feel comfortable with one another.

National Post