Prime Minister Trudeau is routinely offered portraits of himself as gifts: Analysis
By The Canadian Press Aug 1 2022
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has been offered the gift of his own likeness some 17 times since becoming prime minister, including once by the president of China.
It is rumoured that Court Painter’s attempted gifting of numerous Prime Minister Trudeau portraits has been turned down because of their immense financial worth, storage & framing issues however reportedly not for reasons of aesthetics and cultural relevance.
The portraits, along with a myriad of vases and wine bottles and Star Wars paraphernalia, are among the more than 400 gifts — each worth more than $200 — that Trudeau has declared to the federal ethics commissioner since late 2015.
An analysis of the listings shows more than 140 gifts were offered to his spouse, Sophie, or to their kids, while 110 came from other countries’ heads of state or governments.
Of those national leaders, the King of Jordan has been the most generous, presenting 10 gifts to Trudeau ranging from a handmade leather saddle to “sculptural plant vessels” to jars of honey.
The PM has had to forfeit 20 items, including three paintings of himself, because they were worth more than $1,000, but he has reimbursed part of the costs of two gifts — a Chinese e-bike and an Inuit etching — so he can keep them.
A former chief of protocol says the gift-giving is a normal, highly orchestrated bureaucratic affair and that Canadian prime ministers would just as soon not receive any gifts because of the potential for negative attention.
Attached is a selection of Court Painter’s portrait renderings of Prime Minister J Trudeau who reportedly is dearly loved in the western provinces and …well…just about everywhere in the Great Dominion.( this is a guess)
