Non-profit research and advocacy centre in Ottawa heritage building will promote diversity and tolerance
The Aga Khan returned Tuesday to Ottawa to unveil the new headquarters of an international organization that is positioning itself as an antidote of sorts to growing strains of populism and intolerance around the world.
But if you thought for one minute that the wealthy philanthropist, who is hereditary spiritual leader to the world’s 15 million Ismaili Muslims, would talk about that helicopter ride he gave to Justin Trudeau over the Christmas holidays, forget it.
The 80-year-old Aga Khan kept the focus on the opening of the new home for the Global Centre for Pluralism — part think tank, part advocacy group — in a renovated piece of prime Ottawa real estate on Sussex Drive.
John McNee, secretary general of the centre, is well aware of the controversy that has dominated Parliament Hill in recent months: the prime minister’s ride on the Aga Khan’s private helicopter to visit his private island in the Bahamas.
“That’s not a matter for the Global Centre for Pluralism,” McNee said in an interview.
The Conservatives have loudly condemned Trudeau for the trip, which they say violated the Conflict of Interest Act, and are demanding to know more about an ongoing probe of the voyage by the federal ethics commissioner.
A former aide to Stephen Harper says the Conservative ex-prime minister was hopeful none of that would overshadow the opening of the new pluralism centre…