The Canadian Taxpayers Federation has called on the British Columbia government to reign in its travel expenses after obtaining financial statements for a bureaucrat's trip to the COP28 conference in Dubai.It was revealed that Assistant Deputy Minister for Climate Change Jeremy Hewitt billed taxpayers over $10,000 for flights, stayed at a hotel that cost nearly $1,000 per night, and was provided $270 per day for meals during his six-day junket in 2023.Receipts showed that Hewitt flew economy on Air Canada from Victoria to Vancouver, but went for business class on the 15 hour flight to Dubai. On the way home, he flew business class from Dubai to Toronto and from Toronto to Victoria.Currently, flights with Air Canada on the same dates this year cost just $2,500 in economy class, and there are rooms at the prestigious Hilton Dubai Palm Jumeirah for under $400 per night."Taxpayers can't afford to keep bankrolling luxury travel for provincial politicians and bureaucrats," CTF BC Director Carson Binda told the Western Standard. "Families shouldn't be skipping meals and pinching pennies while bureaucrats use their tax dollars to jetset around the world in luxury.".He went on to note that "this isn't a one off, but a pattern of wasteful spending that we've seen time and time again from this provincial government.""Eby needs to put down the taxpayer credit card, listen to the credit rating agencies and bring some fiscal sanity back to BC," Binda added. .CTF slams BC ministry for spending $93,000 on helicopter travel while families struggle to get by.The CTF has pulled the curtain back on a number of expensive trips taken by members of the government.In 2024, for example, bureaucrats at the tourism ministry billed taxpayers $93,000 for 250 helicopter rides between Victoria and Vancouver. That works out to around $370 per trip. Meanwhile the ferry costs just $20 each way. Premier Eby's former chief of staff also opted for helicopters over ferries, at a cost of more than $12,000 over a period of eight months..'We were in an SUV': BC finance minister downplays pricey vehicle rental on 2023 trip.Finance Minister Brenda Bailey was found to have expensed $6,600 in transportation costs during a four-day trip to Boston in 2023. After facing scrutiny for renting a limousine to get around, Bailey claimed it was actually an SUV.
