Gov. Gen. Mary Simon’s $1.1M-trip cost ‘similar’ to other high-level visits: officials – National | 24CA News
The $1.1-million price ticket connected to Gov. Gen. Mary Simon‘s eight-day journey to the Middle East earlier this yr is “similar” to prices of different high-level visits of this nature, MPs heard on Monday.
That’s in line with chief of protocol of Canada Stewart Wheeler, the civil servant tasked with overseeing official, state and diplomatic visits at dwelling and overseas, who made the remark throughout a House of Commons authorities operations and estimates committee assembly.
“I can reassure the committee that the overall cost … of this visit was in line with similar costs for high-level visits of this nature in the past,” Wheeler stated.
However, he added, some “exorbitant costs” have been uncovered from Simon’s journey to the UAE, Qatar, and Kuwait to attend Expo 2020, which concluded in March 2022 — prices he stated the federal government hopes “to bring down,” notably with regards to “catering.”
According to paperwork submitted to the committee, first reported by the National Post, Simon and her passengers ran up a roughly $80,000 tab for meals prices in the course of the journey.
Passengers had entry to just about $1,000 price of Flow boxed water, GBP£1,683 — or greater than $2,800 — of an unknown amount of beef Wellington with purple wine jus, and 420 euros ($604) of an unknown amount of ice cubes, amongst different snacks and refreshments.
“The costs of the catering were unacceptable,” Christine MacIntyre, the deputy secretary to the Governor General of Canada, instructed the committee.
She stated she was “surprised” when she realized the overall value of the meals from the journey.
“The (Office of the Secretary to the Governor General) has asked our partners from the Air Force and Global Affairs — who are responsible for this process and make decisions regarding menus and procurement — to do everything possible to find efficiencies in the costs that we can control.”
Read extra:
Taxpayers footed invoice for $4.5M in journeys by MP spouses, companions over final 4 years
Read More
Simon has defended the bills in public feedback.
“I don’t even know what the orders are for meals. But I do know one thing — our meals are not very extravagant on these trips,” she stated throughout a mid-October interview with 24CA News.
“They’re pretty much like airline meals and the way they were portrayed in the media was pretty unfair, I thought.”
Wheeler stated his workplace is on the lookout for areas the place catering prices may very well be minimize going ahead.
Part of the problem, he stated, is that the federal government doesn’t truly know what the caterer goes to cost them for “final changes” due to “undue increases” attributable to “the nature of some of those catering restrictions.”
He didn’t increase on what these restrictions had been.
“We have decided as a policy that snacks will be minimal and soft drinks and snacks will be sourced in Canada, likely in Trenton, so that we can take advantage of bulk purchases here and store them on the aircraft, so that we’re not using catering services for those purchases,” he added.
“For example, things that would be normally part of standard international air travel, such as ice, drink garnishes, we’ll be looking at all of those costs as well. And certainly drink garnishes will be eliminated from service.”
These adjustments, Wheeler stated, are already within the works “and are already producing savings.”
© 2022 Global News, a division of Corus Entertainment Inc.
