Trudeau will reimburse government for (some of the) costs of family travel to …

Justin Trudeau will reimburse taxpayers for part of the costs of taking his family on a government jet for a Caribbean get-away over the holidays.

The Prime Minister’s Office said on Sunday that Trudeau will pay the government for the equivalent economy-class flights for himself and wife and kids to travel to the tiny island of Nevis, where he spent 10 nights at an exclusive resort.

Like all prime ministers, Trudeau cannot fly on commercial airlines for security reasons and must instead travel on Department of National Defence Challenger jets, which cost about $10,000 per flying hour to operate.

It’s a necessary upgrade on his past travel. In a 2013 interview with the Citizen, Trudeau said other passengers were often surprised to see him and his family flying to Florida on discount charter airlines.

His predecessor, Conservative PM Stephen Harper, did on occasion reimburse DND for flights, but in amounts that appeared to represent the lowest possible economy fare prices.

In Nevis, the Trudeaus stayed at the Paradise Beach Resort, a brand new collection of seven beachfront villas that come with their own personal butler and, apparently, monkeys. Celebrity gossip site TMZ reported that Trudeau paid $2,500 US a night for a 3,400-square-foot villa.

“Every villa is replete with a full kitchen, bbq, outdoor shower, personal butler, bespoke fridge, private pool, vervet monkeys and goats,” according to Alux.com, a website devoted to luxury products and travel. “The villas are massive, so guests need not leave, and with little around but each other, offer all the amenities you need for bonding.”

Resort general manager Steven Tyson confirmed that the Trudeaus were guests of the resort but would not comment further. The St. Kitts-Nevis Times posted a photograph of Trudeau and his wife Sophie Gregoiré-Trudeau posing with the resort staff and reported they had spent New Years at the “posh resort.”

“As for the friends of the Trudeau family who were also present in Nevis, they did not travel on the Challenger but made their own way there,” said PMO press secretary Andrée-Lyne Hallé.

Trudeau personally picked up the bill for the pricey resort stay, she said.

“All accommodation and other personal expenses of the Prime Minister and his family while vacationing were covered by him and are therefore private.”