OTTAWA | The Governor General and her court were treated to meals costing more than $200 each, not including alcohol, during their trip to the Middle East in March.
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This is what the explanations provided by National Defense at the request of the Log.
The army indicates that the total bill was ultimately “only” $80,367.19, without the alcohol, and not $93,117.89 as declared in the House of Commons previously.
“$93,117.89 was an estimate. This was the anticipated cost before we received and calculated the true final and total cost following receipt of invoices. The actual cost following invoicing is $80,367.19,” explains National Defense at Log.
But “$80,000 is no more acceptable,” scolds curator Gérard Deltell.
Worse than we thought
In addition, the note does not include alcohol and does not count eight days of travel, but rather three dinners, three lunches, two dinners and snacks for the Governor General, her 29 guests and the 17 members of the cabin crew. , National Defense said.
This works out to an average of $213.75 per person, per meal, assuming flight attendants eat the same as passengers. What did they eat for such a sum?
Nobody, neither from the vice-reign’s office, nor from National Defence, nor from Global Affairs Canada answered this question posed by The newspaper.
“I am flabbergasted. It’s even worse than we thought, ”worries Bloc MP Alain Therrien, who tabled two motions in the House on Thursday to shed light on these figures and the rest of the expenses incurred.
The Bloc Québécois is asking that the Queen’s representative answer questions from the public accounts committee and that the auditor general investigate her expenses since her appointment.
Who benefited from it?
The full list of 29 guests has also not been provided, as requested by the official opposition.
“Why does she need 29 people? Who are these people? asks Mr. Therrien.
Only 17 names, including that of Mary Simon, appear in the documents provided and among them: three employees of Global Affairs Canada. The purpose of their presence has not been clarified by Minister Mélanie Joly’s office.
As for the 13 missing names, the office of Mme Simon refused to provide them to the Logreferring us again to National Defence, which invited us to send a bottle to the sea by making an access to information request.