By Jen Hodgson

Prime Minister Mark Carney’s two-day cabinet meeting in Toronto cost taxpayers more than $532,000, records reviewed by the Canadian Taxpayers Federation show. Carney’s cabinet meetings cost thousands of dollars more than recent cabinet retreats hosted by former prime minister Justin Trudeau.

“If you’re spending thousands of dollars more than Trudeau on meetings, you’re spending too much money,” said Franco Terrazzano, CTF Federal Director. “It’s going to be hard for politicians to explain to taxpayers why all of the meeting rooms in Ottawa weren’t good enough.”

Carney’s two-day cabinet meeting was held at the Pan Pacific Toronto in September, according to government records submitted in response to an Order Paper Question. Pan Pacific’s website describes itself as a “luxury hotel.”

The Privy Council Office spent $250,400 on the venue and “hospitality,” $78,700 for audiovisual services, $40,000 for security and $8,073 on shipping. The PCO spent another $38,300 on accommodation, meals and transportation.

The total bill to taxpayers may balloon higher. The PCO noted costs only include expenditures processed as of Sept. 23. “Certain associated travel claims and invoices may still be awaiting submission or receipt,” wrote the PCO.

The Royal Canadian Mounted Police spent $29,000 on the cabinet meeting. That only includes expenditures processed as of Sept. 17.

The Translation Bureau charged taxpayers $30,600 for travel expenses, travel time and interpretation services.

Other departments also spent $57,400 for the cabinet meeting. Most of that was for transportation, but some ministers charged taxpayers for meals and accommodation for themselves and their staff.

Carney’s Toronto cabinet meeting cost more than recent cabinet meetings hosted by Trudeau.

Trudeau’s cabinet retreat to Charlottetown, P.E.I., in August 2023, cost taxpayers $485,196. Even after adjusting for inflation, Trudeau’s cabinet retreat cost about $26,000 less than Carney’s.

The Trudeau government also held a cabinet meeting in Vancouver in 2022. It cost taxpayers $471,070. Even after adjusting for inflation, Trudeau’s cabinet retreat cost about $25,000 less than Carney’s.

“Carney told Canadians he was going to cut waste and he should start by not dropping half a million bucks on meetings,” Terrazzano said. “We need a culture change in Ottawa and that needs to start with the prime minister and ministers respecting taxpayers’ hard-earned money.”

This article supplied by Troy Media.

 By Gwyn Morgan

Canada is paying a steep economic price for climate policies that have delivered little real environmental progress

In 2015, the newly elected Trudeau government signed the Paris Agreement. The following year saw the imposition of the Pan-Canadian Framework on Clean Growth and Climate Change, which included more than 50 measures aimed at “reducing carbon emissions and fostering clean technology solutions.” Key among them was economy-wide carbon “pricing,” Liberal-speak for taxes.

Other measures followed, culminating last December in the 2030 Emissions Reduction Plan, targeting emissions of 40 per cent below 2005 levels by 2030 and net-zero emissions by 2050. It included $9.1 billion for retrofitting structures, subsidizing zero-emission vehicles, building charging stations and subsidizing solar panels and windmills. It also mandated the phaseout of coal-fired power generation and proposed stringent emission standards for vehicles and buildings.

Other “green initiatives” included the “on-farm climate action fund,” a nationwide reforestation initiative to plant two billion trees, the “Green and Inclusive Community Buildings Program” to promote net-zero standards in new construction, and a “Green Municipal Fund” to support municipal decarbonization. That’s a staggering list of nation-impoverishing subsidies, taxes and restrictions.

Those climate measures come at a real cost to the industry that drives the nation’s economy.

The Trudeau government cancelled the Northern Gateway oil pipeline to the northwest coast, which had been approved by the Harper government, costing sponsors hundreds of millions of dollars in preconstruction expenditures. The political and regulatory morass the Liberals created eventually led to the cancellation of all but one of the 12 LNG export proposals.

Have all those taxes and regulatory measures reduced Canada’s fossil-fuel consumption? No. As Bjorn Lomborg has reported, between the election of the Trudeau government in 2015 through 2023, fossil fuels’ share of Canada’s energy supply increased from 75 to 77 per cent.

That dismal result wasn’t for lack of trying. The Fraser Institute has found that Ottawa and the four biggest provinces have either spent or forgone a mind-numbing $158 billion to create just 68,000 “clean” jobs, increasing the “green economy” by a minuscule 0.3 percentage points to 3.6 per cent of GDP at an eye-watering cost of more than $2.3 million per job.

That’s Canada’s emissions reduction debacle. What’s the global picture? A decade after Paris, 80 per cent of the world’s energy still comes from fossil fuels. World energy demand is up 150 per cent. Canada, which produces roughly 1.5 per cent of global emissions, cannot influence that trajectory. And, as Lomborg writes: “achieving net zero emissions by 2050 would require the removal of the equivalent of the combined emissions of China and the United States in each of the next five years. This puts us in the realm of science fiction.”

Does this mean our planet will become unlivable? A U.S. Department of Energy report issued in July is grounds for optimism. It finds that “claims of increased frequency or intensity of hurricanes, tornadoes, floods and droughts are not supported by U.S. historical data.” And it goes on: “CO2-induced warming appears to be less damaging economically than commonly believed and aggressive mitigation policies could be more detrimental than beneficial.”

U.S. Secretary of Energy Chris Wright responded to the report by saying: “Climate change is real … but it is not the greatest threat facing humanity … (I)mproving the human condition depends on access to reliable, affordable energy.”

That leaves no doubt as to where our largest trading partner stands on carbon emissions. But don’t expect Prime Minister Mark Carney, who helped launch the Glasgow Financial Alliance for Net Zero (GFANZ) at COP 26 in that city in 2021 and co-chaired it until this January, to soften his stand on carbon taxes. His just-released budget imposes carbon tax increases of $80 to $170 per ton by 2030 on our already struggling industries.

Doing so increases Canadian businesses’ competitive disadvantage with our most important trading partner while doing essentially nothing to help the environment.

Gwyn Morgan is a retired business leader who has been a director of five global corporations.

Troy Media empowers Canadian community news outlets by providing independent, insightful analysis and commentary. Our mission is to support local media in helping Canadians stay informed and engaged by delivering reliable content that strengthens community connections and deepens understanding across the country.