PMO confirms Justin and Sophie Trudeau stayed at $6,000 a night London suite

According to internal documents obtained through access-to-information requests, the Liberal Party billed taxpayers nearly $400,000 for politicians, diplomats and other government officials to attend the Queen's funeral last September.

PMO confirms Justin and Sophie Trudeau stayed at $6,000 a night London suite
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After months of dodging the subject, the Prime Minister's Office (PMO) has confirmed that Justin Trudeau and his wife, Sophie Gregoire Trudeau, stayed at the luxury hotel suite while attending the funeral of Queen Elizabeth II.

The stay at the Corinthia London hotel — a luxury, five-star riverfront hotel, which included heated floors and complimentary butler service — cost taxpayers $6,000 a night and became public knowledge last October as first reported by the Toronto Sun.

According to internal documents obtained through access-to-information requests, the Liberal Party billed taxpayers nearly $400,000 for politicians, diplomats and other government officials to attend the Queen's funeral last September.

The PMO and Global Affairs Canada initially refused to answer questions in February about who stayed in the expensive suite from September 15 to 20.

Global Affairs Minister Mélanie Joly ordered her staff weeks after the funeral in September not to tell reporters which government delegates stayed in the suite.

Canada's official delegation included former governors general Michaëlle Jean and David Johnston, former prime ministers Kim Campbell, Jean Chrétien, Paul Martin and Stephen Harper, Olympian Mark Tewksbury, actress Sandra Oh, and musician Gregory Charles.

In November, Conservative leader Pierre Poilievre peppered Trudeau with questions in the House of Commons about who stayed in the suite, but he didn't answer.

Opposition MPs on the government operations committee requested a copy of all receipts and invoices associated with the trip last month.

Invoices showed that most of the delegation's expenses for the trip went towards accommodations for Trudeau, Governor General Mary Simon and dignitaries at the Corinthia.

The documents revealed that the booking was for a three-bed suite, with the hotel's website clarifying it has one king-sized bed with "connecting rooms available on request."

In emails obtained by the Sun through an access to information request, Global Affairs staff responded to media reports on the costly luxury suite during the funeral of Queen Elizabeth II.

Unfortunately, the federal government redacted information on who stayed at the hotel suite during the funeral as part of the access to information request.

In a statement from the PMO, it claimed that hotel prices surged significantly ahead of the funeral. It reads that many London hotels sold out with 500 heads of state and their delegations descending on the city.

The hotel's website lists the suite at 5,154 British pounds per night, higher than the 4,800 pounds the taxpayers paid in September. The same suite would cost over $8,000 a night next month at the current exchange rate.

The PMO did not immediately answer questions about the higher prices and why the government chose this hotel.

"The death of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II was significant for Canadians. Canada was represented by former prime ministers and governors general to pay their respects to the monarch who oversaw almost half of Canada's time as an independent country," said a PMO spokesperson on Thursday.

 

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