Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s June 2024 four-day trip to Italy and Switzerland cost more than $71,000 on food expenses alone.
This means his entourage of up to 41 staffers including the Prime Minister expensed $1,700 of food each, roughly $425 each per day.
Comparatively, the average Canadian family of four spends about $1,400 on food per month, under high inflation and carbon tax-related price increases, as per Canada’s Food Price report.
But during the PMO’s 4-day trip, $43,000 alone was spent on airplane food while flying across Europe.
The finding comes from The Canadian Taxpayers Federation, after they filed an access-to-information claim to the Privy Council Office.
The total tab for Trudeau’s bill was $918,000 taxpayer dollars from June 13th to the 16th.
The true expenses could be higher given that certain expenses were covered by Global Affairs Canada which hasn’t released a figure yet.
This is far from the first time that the Liberal Government has been under scrutiny for lavish taxpayer-funded expenses.
In 2022, Governor General Mary Simon, along with her 29 passengers, spent nearly $100,000 in plane food while on a 8 trip to the Middle East.
The same year, the Governor General changed taxpayers $71,000 for her limousine bill from a four-day trip in Iceland.
Outrageous expenses today starkly contrast with the past, as seen when Bev Oda, a minister in Stephen Harper’s government, was heavily criticized and eventually resigned in 2012 after expensing a $16 glass of orange juice in 2011.
