The Canadian federal government is facing scrutiny after financial reports revealed it spent more than $1 million on two parliamentary conferences held in Montreal in 2024. The expenditures, which included musical spoons, scarves, and expensive dinners, have been criticized by the Canadian Taxpayers Federation as excessive during a period of financial difficulty for many Canadians.
Details of the Conference Spending
According to federal quarterly financial reports for the Parliament of Canada, the two events were the 49th Annual Session of the Assemblée parlementaire de la Francophonie in July and a NATO conference in November. The Canadian Taxpayers Federation (CTF), with calculations verified by the National Post, tallied the total cost at over one million dollars.
The Francophonie conference, held at the Fairmont Queen Elizabeth hotel from July 5-8, 2024, accounted for approximately $631,500. This sum included expenses from a site visit by five parliamentary staffers a month prior. A significant portion, $357,000, was categorized under "hospitality."
This hospitality budget included nearly $198,000 for lunch and break food for 475 delegates over four days and almost $29,000 for dinner buffets and lunch boxes from a now-closed Italian restaurant. An additional $80,000 was spent on a concluding "cultural dinner," which featured performances by Montreal's Le Monastère and Ottawa's Les Rats d'Swompe, costing $5,750 and $4,250 respectively.
Delegates at this conference also received musical spoons ordered from Amazon, costing taxpayers over $1,300.
Gifts and Criticisms
The subsequent NATO event in November saw similar spending on delegate gifts. The government spent almost $25,000 on delegate bags containing scarves, lapel pins, and pens for attendees.
Franco Terrazzano, the Federal Director of the Canadian Taxpayers Federation, strongly criticized the spending. "The government should be able to host conferences without ballooning the tab so extravagantly," Terrazzano stated. He emphasized that "This is Canadians’ money. Canadians are going through a very difficult time. I think it’s time for a culture change within the federal bureaucracy."
Terrazzano pointed out that even using a high-end local restaurant like Marche Artisans, which offers a $52 per person group menu rate, would have been more economical. "The government could have taken everyone out for lunch at The Keg, ordered the most expensive lunch meal on the menu, and still saved taxpayers money," he remarked.
Broader Financial Context
Beyond the hospitality and gifts, a substantial amount was allocated for logistics. Accommodations and transportation for participants and staff at the Francophonie conference alone cost over $243,000.
This report on conference spending emerges amidst ongoing debates about the size and cost of the federal government, with recent documents indicating the federal bureaucracy grew by 9% last year. The CTF is using these findings to call for greater fiscal restraint and a fundamental shift in how public funds are managed for government-hosted events.
