Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s four-day trip to Europe in June 2024 came with a hefty price tag for Canadian taxpayers, with records showing $71,000 spent on food alone, including $43,000 on inflight catering. The total cost of the trip, which included stops in Italy and Switzerland for a G7 Summit and a Summit on Peace in Ukraine, amounted to at least $918,000.The Canadian Taxpayers Federation (CTF) obtained the figures through access-to-information requests. Franco Terrazzano, CTF’s federal director, criticized the expenditures, noting that the per-person meal cost of $145 exceeded the monthly food budget of an average Canadian family.“It would have been cheaper for each member of the prime minister’s delegation to go to the Keg, order a prime rib steak, a Caesar salad, baked garlic shrimp, and a bottle of pinot noir for every meal,” Terrazzano remarked.In addition to the luxurious meals, which included lamb ribs, veal piccata, and fine desserts like Swiss chocolate cake, government officials spent $812 on junk food for the trip and $102 on DVDs for inflight entertainment.Trudeau’s delegation included 36 to 41 members, among them media coordinators, a videographer, and a photographer. The trip’s total cost may be higher, as some accommodations were covered by Global Affairs Canada, according to the records.This is not the first time Trudeau’s travel expenses have come under scrutiny. A six-day trip to the Indo-Pacific region in 2023 included $223,000 on airplane food, while a 2022 trip by Governor General Mary Simon drew criticism for a $100,000 inflight catering bill.“The government promised to bring the cost of international travel down, but taxpayers are still getting stuck with outrageous bills,” Terrazzano said. “The government needs to figure out how to fly overseas without spending more on food in a few days than four families spend on groceries in an entire year.”
