According to documents released to the House of Commons by the Privy Council Office in response to an inquiry posed by Saskatchewan Conservative MP Corey Tochor, food expenses were in excess of $19,000 for the three-day event in Quebec. Other PCO expenses included $64,000 in hospitality, $19,000 on meals, and $13,000 on other transportation.

The final costs are not in yet, according to other ministries and agencies, who told the House of Commons in response to Tochor that expenses will either be disclosed separately or posted online. 

The Liberals have come under fire for their big spending on themselves to develop policies to undo the damage that nearly a decade of Liberal governance has done to Canada's middle class. Cabinet spent $500,000 on a previous affordability retreat in PEI in August 2023. 

The PEI retreat was part of a trio of cabinet get-togethers between September 2022 and August 2023, wherein the Liberal brain trust spent other people's money on themselves to solve the problem of why those same other people don't have as much money as they used to.

A Hamilton cabinet retreat on affordability in January 2023 had a final price tag of $305,000.

Statistics Canada data released Tuesday indicates Canada's inflation rate rose from 2.7% in April to 2.9% in May.