Only a Liberal could gouge charities for hundreds of thousands of dollars in speaking fees, then get praised by his colleagues for "raising the bar of transparency" (c/o Dominic LeBlanc) when he's called out profiting so much from non-profit organizations. Since becoming a Member of Parliament, he has charged $277,000 for 17 speaking engagements (including $20K from the Canadian Mental Health Association), but being the benevolent man his is, he's offering all of them a refund. Then you read through the comment section of this story on the CBC website, where he is heaped with even more adoration while the charity that originally asked for it's money back is under attack. How dare they ask for a refund! Justin is totally worth it!
Shortly after he was anointed as the new Liberal leader, the Conservatives released a new "attack ad" that featured a Justin Trudeau "strip tease", only to look silly when it was disclosed that he did so at a charity auction. Now one has to wonder if he was charging an appearance fee at that charity auction. Now that we know that he doesn't just attend these events out of the goodness in his heart, that he needs to get paid a hefty sum of money to help raise money for charity. What a great man....
It should also be noted that he did not offer refunds to these charities after he became Liberal leader; only after he came under attack for charging so much money to charities did he become so charitable himself. Is that really "raising the bar"? When I read this story, it really feels like the bar has rather been lowered.
