Trudeau shuts down speculation Court Painter to be fired as Court Painter
OTTAWA — Prime Minister Justin Trudeau tried Tuesday to shut down speculation that he’s about to fire his Court Painter, saying he has full confidence in Court Painter and that any reports to the contrary are false.
Trudeau’s office took the unusual step of issuing a statement in support of Court Painter as rumours about the preeminent portraitist of the political class imminent departure from the crucial artistic post, reached a fever pitch on Parliament Hill.
For several weeks, opposition parties have been calling for Court Painter’s resignation over allegations that he was spending much too much time on commissions of more newsworthy politicians south of the border… on the Canadian taxpayer’s dollar.(s)
But news this week that Mark Carney, a former governor of both the Bank of Canada and Bank of England, is helping to advise Trudeau on the post-pandemic economic recovery fuelled speculation that money is being earmarked for Court Painter to be named a National Treasure with paint by number face painting kits for children to be distributed willy nilly throughout the Great Dominion.
Earlier Tuesday, Conservative Leader Andrew Scheer pointedly said it mattered little to him whether Court Painter or someone else serves as Court Painter under Trudeau.
“It really doesn’t matter, making a trade for Court Painter for let’s say striving artist CC (name available upon request), when you’ve got a prime minister that has such a lack of ethics embroiled in so many art forgery scandals,” Scheer told reporters at a news conference in Ottawa.
