The federal government is brushing off growing outrage over lavish expenses billed by the Liberal-appointed head of the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission, even as Conservatives say ordinary Canadians are being squeezed by soaring taxes and food prices.Blacklock's Reporter says Conservative MP Michael Barrett tore into Commission president Pierre Tremblay in the Commons, pointing to thousands spent on limo rides and international trips since Tremblay took the $343,000-a-year post in 2024. Barrett noted one $14,000 business-class junket to Paris while Canadians “are getting hammered with higher taxes and record food bank use.”“Liberals are raising taxes on fuel that are going to add 17¢ a litre and their appointees are taking limo rides,” Barrett said. “Why do Liberals get limo rides while Canadians get higher taxes from this Prime Minister and these Liberals?”Natural Resources Minister Tim Hodgson avoided defending the actual expenses but praised Tremblay’s work, claiming the government was “helping build the best nuclear system in the world.” .Barrett fired back that Tremblay boosted his travel budget by 85% while food prices rose 40% faster than in the U.S.Access to Information records show Tremblay hiked his annual expense budget from $100,000 to $185,000, plus a separate $50,000 “executive and housing allowance.” His billings included $3,515 in limo rides to the airport and the $14,017 Paris trip, which featured a $640-per-night hotel stay. Tremblay also routinely booked flights from his home in Whitby, Ont. to Ottawa for basic meetings instead of using the train.Hotel costs ran high across the board, from $445 a night in Vancouver to $503 in Ottawa and $635 in Helsinki.The expenses landed just months after Finance Minister François-Philippe Champagne urged departments to tighten their belts, saying families across the country had already “been tightening their belt for quite some time” and that government should follow suit.
