The Liberal federal government has admitted it spent $736,466.11 on a private charter flight to take Prime Minister Mark Carney and staff to Egypt in October 2025 — and also admitted it doesn’t even have an itemized bill showing what taxpayers actually paid for.

The numbers come from an order paper response to Q-505, asked by Conservative MP Larry Brock (Brantford—Brant South—Six Nations) and answered December 8, 2025, by both the Privy Council Office (PCO) and the Department of National Defence (DND).

$736,466 for a charter — but no itemized breakdown

The PCO, answering on behalf of the Prime Minister and signed by cabinet minister Rachel Bendayan, says simply:

“The Government of Canada was not provided with a full itemized breakdown of the costs… The total cost of the flight was $736,466.11.”

No breakdown for:

• Rental/charter fee
• Fuel
• Airport and landing fees
• Crew costs
• Catering

All the government will disclose is the grand total and the fact that it was booked through Chartright Air Group on a Bombardier Global 5000 business jet.

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DND: using a Challenger would have cost about $198,800

DND was asked how much it would have cost to fly a government-owned Challenger instead. Its answer is blunt:

• Estimated Challenger cost: $198,800
• Based on $7,100 per flight hour
• With an estimated 14 hours each way (28 hours total)

By contrast, the Egypt charter actually flown:

• Total charter bill: $736,466.11
• Flight time to Egypt: 10 hours 6 minutes
• Return flight: 11 hours (with refuelling stop)
• Total air time: ~21.1 hours

That works out to roughly:

• ~$34,900 per flight hour on the private charter
• Versus $7,100 per hour on the Challenger

So on an hourly basis, Carney’s private jet choice was about five times more expensive than using the government aircraft — and still roughly $538,000 more overall than DND’s estimate.

At least $105,000 per named passenger

Excluding security, the PCO lists just six other passengers on the flight:

• Emily Grant
• Kaitlin Power
• Marc-André Blanchard
• Scott Gilmore
• Lisa Jorgensen
• Daniel Pereira

Adding the Prime Minister, that’s at least seven named passengers. On that basis alone, the charter works out to more than $105,000 per named passenger — not including any RCMP/security personnel, whose numbers aren’t disclosed.

What we do know – and what the government “doesn’t have”

From the PCO’s own response:

• Decision to go: made at 8:30 a.m. on October 12, 2025, “subject to various checks” that day.
• Departure from Ottawa: 6:45 p.m., October 12, 2025.
• Arrival in Sharm El Sheikh: 11:33 a.m., October 13, 2025.
• Departure from Egypt: 8:00 a.m., October 14, 2025.
• Arrival back in Ottawa: 1:24 p.m., October 14, 2025.

On top of that, we get some almost comic detail about the catering but not the bill:

• Meals on the return leg were “American breakfast and flavoured yogurt, and Caprese salad and Italian chicken.”

But when it comes to the big-ticket items — fuel volume, exact distance flown, and a line-by-line invoice — the PCO says:

• “The Government does not have the kms traveled by the plane.”
• “The Government does not have the amount of fuel used.”
• “The Government of Canada was not provided with a full itemized breakdown of the costs…”

So taxpayers are told what Carney ate on the way home, but not what they actually paid for.

Key numbers at a glance

Item	Amount / Detail
Total charter cost (Global 5000, Chartright)	$736,466.11
Estimated cost if using Challenger	$198,800
Extra cost of choosing charter	≈ $537,666 more
Charter flight time	~21.1 hours total
Challenger cost/hour (DND figure)	$7,100
Implied charter cost/hour	≈ $34,900
Named passengers (excluding security)	6 staff + PM = 7
Implied cost per named passenger	≈ $105,000+

 

The Liberal government now admits it spent nearly three-and-three-quarter times more on a private charter than it would have on its own Challenger fleet — without even securing a proper invoice.