A senior official at the Bank of Canada, Lori Rennison, spent more than a quarter million dollars on travel, including business-class flights from Brasilia to Marrakech, even as federal executives were urged to curb discretionary trips.
Blacklock's Reporter says Rennison, a deputy managing director, declined to comment on the expenses.
Records obtained through Access To Information show Rennison filed 163 pages of travel claims, with total costs reaching $261,913 between September 2021 and May 2024.
She attended meetings with the G20, the International Monetary Fund, and the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development. The Bank of Canada defended the expenses, stating Rennison was the Bank’s G7 representative and required in-person participation. The Bank did not clarify why video conferencing or delegating duties to local embassy staff was not an option.
Expense reports indicate Rennison made 26 trips to destinations including Bali, Basel, Bengaluru, Berlin, Brasilia, Gandhinagar, Kamakura, Marrakech, Naples, Niigata, Paris, Sao Paulo, Washington, and Zurich. Four of her six flights to Paris aligned with springtime in the city.
Her travel spending coincided with a 2023 cabinet directive urging federal executives to limit non-essential trips. Then-Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland emphasized the need for a fiscally responsible government, pledging to save $14 billion by reducing internal spending.
Budget Officer Yves Giroux dismissed such claims, noting repeated government promises to cut travel expenses had little effect.
“If we followed all these commitments throughout the years, the Ottawa airport should be closed by now,” he told the Senate national finance committee. “It’s still open.”
Rennison’s frequent flights also appeared to conflict with the Bank’s stated commitment to reducing its carbon footprint. A 2020 report, Coordinating The Bank’s Climate Change Work, highlighted its strategy for measuring and mitigating climate risks, including its own emissions.
Bank Governor Tiff Macklem, in a 2020 speech, urged Canadian businesses to prioritize environmental responsibility. “Consumers, workers, and investors increasingly care about the environmental footprint of the products they buy, the companies they work for, and the businesses they spend in,” he said. “As a result, climate change is becoming an immediate bottom-line business issue.”
