Taxpayers Advocacy Group Criticizes Millions Spent on Travel Expenses by Governor General Mary Simon

Governor General Mary Simon speaks during the site selection ceremony of the Residential Schools National Monument on Parliament Hill in Ottawa on June 20, 2023. (The Canadian Press/Sean Kilpatrick)

The Canadian Taxpayers Federation (CTF) is criticizing the millions of dollars in travel expenses spent by Governor General Mary Simon in 2022.

According to an Aug. 24 CTF federal commentary, in 2022—Mrs. Simon’s first calendar year in her position—she spent at least $2.7 million for five trips abroad and over a dozen trips within Canada.

The CTF alleges that Mrs. Simon, Canada’s representative of the Crown, brought along “a dizzying array of underlings and support staff on most voyages.” The organization says that its analysis indicates the total cost to taxpayers was at least $2,784,010 but that the final figure will likely be higher as the government continues to process costs into 2023.

“Why do Canadians need our governor general going on all these trips?” asked Franco Terrazzano, CTF’s federal director.

According to Mr. Terrazzano, the Governor General should have “the courtesy and common sense to realize many Canadians are struggling and can’t afford to pay for her expensive trips.”

Entourage

Mrs. Simon’s office did not return requests for comment by press time, but the CTF said that in 2022, the Governor General routinely travelled with “an extended entourage, including her husband, secretary, several communication strategists and ‘aides-de-camp,’ alongside her official videographer and her official photographer, among others.”

The Governor General stayed in luxury hotels including the Ritz-Carlton in Berlin, the Great Scotland Yard Hotel in London, the 1919 Radisson Blu in Reykjavik, Iceland, and the Jumeriah Emirates Towers Hotel in Dubai, UAE.

According to a June 2022 report in the National Post, Mrs. Simon and her entourage of 29 fellow passengers had an in-flight catering bill of close to $100,000 aboard an RCAF transport plane during their weeklong $1.3 million trip to the Middle East in March that year.

The trip also included a visit to Dubai on the occasion Canada’s National Day at Expo 2020 Dubai, meetings between Mrs. Simon and Amir of Qatar Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani, as well as a stop in Kuwait to visit Camp Canada at Ali Al Salem Air Base and to meet Kuwaiti Crown Prince Sheikh Mishal Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah.

The details were released following an order paper question submitted by Conservative MP Michael Barrett requesting details on flights that took place from Dec. 1, 2021, to April 12, 2022.

A March 31, 2022, flight from Ottawa to Toronto carrying the Governor General, her husband Whit Fraser, and staff came to nearly $400 in catering expenses.

The Governor General also spent $71,000 in limo fees for a four-day trip to Iceland in October 2022, according to her expense reports obtained by the CTF via access-to-information requests.

“Other international trips included three stays in London—the first in March for a sit down with Queen Elizabeth II, a return in June for the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee celebration, followed by another visit in September for the late-Queen’s state funeral,” said the CTF.

The organization said Mrs. Simon’s five trips abroad account for a significant portion of the overall travel bill for 2022, coming in at a little more than $2 million. Meanwhile, her domestic travel last year cost Canadian taxpayers $691,433.

She travelled to Toronto in May of 2022 for the Juno Awards and visited the Canadian Canoe Museum in Peterborough, Ontario, in October 2022.

‘Nothing New’

“Lavish spending on travel from Rideau Hall is nothing new,” says the CTF, citing an article by Blacklock’s Reporter in February stating that former governor general Julie Payette spent nearly $3 million in “VIP travel expenses” during her 29 months spent at Rideau Hall prior to the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Former governor general David Johnston racked up at least $2 million in spending on international trips during his first two-and-a-half years on the job, including a tour of South American and Caribbean countries. On that trip, Mr. Johnston spent $1,375 on a sushi dinner and $1,625 on a lobster dinner, according to the CTF, citing a Toronto Sun article from March 2013.

The CTF said it calculated Mrs. Simon’s 2022 travel expenses by reviewing two sessional papers published by the federal bureaucracy in response to written questions submitted by MPs during parliamentary proceedings.

The first sessional paper detailed all travel expenses related to Mrs. Simon’s international trips since she was appointed to the role by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau in 2021.

The second sessional paper detailed all expenses related to Mrs. Simon’s domestic travel in 2022. “Combined, the documents offer a full portrait of Simon’s travel last year,” said the CTF.

The expenses are in addition to the Governor General’s annual salary, which is currently $351,600, as reported by the National Post in an article in May.

“It’s clear governors general get a kick out of spending buckets of cash on trips, but what value are taxpayers getting from the millions they spend?” Mr. Terrazzano said. “Rideau Hall has been spending far too much money for far too long, so reining in the governor general’s travel budget is the perfect place for the feds to find savings.”