Trudeau Liberals spent at least $1.5M on hotel rooms for UN biodiversity conference

The Canadian Press / Ryan Remiorz

The Government of Canada spent at least $1.5 million on hotel rooms as part of the costs associated with hosting the United Nations Biodiversity Conference in Montreal late last year. 

But there's a catch, because the final tally isn't in yet; in response to an inquiry of the ministry, Environment and Climate Change Canada (ECCC) claims the actual cost would be too much work to tabulate.

The hotel expenditures to host the United Nations conference were revealed through an order paper question posed by Kenora, Ont., Conservative MP Eric Melillo.

"The total amount paid for hotel rooms at Intercontinental Montreal ($286,060.46$) and Le Westin Montreal ($1,252,991.73) was $1,539,052.19."

WATCH: Rebel Reporter Alexa Lavoie spoke to attendees who are attending the UN Biodiversity Conference (COP15) in Montreal. The conference will take place from December 7-19.

FULL REPORT from @TheVoiceAlexa: https://t.co/Qiha36O84I

— Rebel News (@RebelNewsOnline) December 7, 2022

The final cost of the hotel rooms remains unknown due to a bureaucratic fear of extra effort.

"There were also other costs for hotel rooms that were booked directly by travelers and reimbursed by ECCC. It would require a significant amount of time and effort to locate and analyze the supporting documentation of each travel request to manually extract the requested information for those other costs. Therefore, ECCC is unable to provide a complete response," the organization's response said.

The conference, which focused heavily on climate change, over-exploitation of nature and unsustainable living, ran from December 7–19, 2022.