Canadian taxpayers were billed over $1 million for two high-end conferences hosted in Montreal last year, complete with luxury hotels, pricey buffets, and even a $1,340 musical spoons performance.

The spending details, uncovered in federal expense disclosures reviewed by the Canadian Taxpayers Federation, show a government that, as CTF Federal Director Franco Terrazzano put it, “goes out of its way to spend taxpayers’ money as extravagantly as possible.”

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Francophonie conference: $631,500 blowout

The 49th Annual Session of the Assemblée parlementaire de la Francophonie, held July 5–8, 2024, rang up a $631,500 bill.

That included:

• $156,000 for accommodations
• $87,000 for transportation
• 18 staff charging more than $3,000 each for hotels, averaging $750 per night
• $20,500 in per diems
• $357,000 in “hospitality”

Hospitality alone included a $79,300 catered dinner, $14,250 for artistic performances, and a $1,340 musical spoons act. Lunches catered at the Fairmont Queen Elizabeth came to $198,000 despite the hotel’s posted group lunch rate of $60 per person. The government also paid $29,000 for dinner buffets and boxed lunches for just 85 people.

“The government could’ve taken everyone across the street to the Keg, ordered the priciest steak, and still saved taxpayers money,” Terrazzano said.

NATO Parliamentary Assembly: another $405,400

The 70th Annual Session of the NATO Parliamentary Assembly, held Nov. 22–25, 2024, cost another $405,400. Bureaucrats began spending months beforehand on an “observation mission” in Sofia, Bulgaria, plus a Montreal “site visit.”

Conference-week spending included:

• $54,000 transportation
• $63,400 accommodations
• $21,400 per diems
• $253,400 in hospitality
• $36,000 in “health breaks” from a high-end oyster bar
• $26,000 luncheon at Maestro
• $134,000 on dinners, including a $94,900 reception with an $11,900 Cirque Éloize performance
• Plus extras like $10,850 for scarves and $2,546 for lapel pins

The Speaker’s office confirmed none of the costs will be reimbursed by visiting delegations.