Taxpayers Federation Taking Legal Action to Force Feds to Disclose Who Stayed in $6,000 Hotel Room

A Canadian flag hangs from a lamp post along the road in front of the Parliament buildings in Ottawa on June 30, 2020. Adrian Wyld/The Canadian Press

The Canadian Taxpayers Federation (CTF) will file legal action with the Office of the Information Commissioner (OIC) to force the federal government to provide unredacted documents disclosing who stayed in a $6,000 per night hotel room in England, during Queen Elizabeth II’s funeral.

CTF told The Epoch Times that although an access to information request was filed for the documents to show who stayed in the luxury suite for five nights, the government redacted the name of the hotel guest.

According to CTF, the government said the redactions were due to “security concerns and a clause in the Access to Information Act that prohibits the release of personal information.”

Franco Terrazzano, federal director of the CTF, said the situation “doesn’t pass the sniff test.”

“As a matter of principle, the government owes taxpayers transparency. Taxpayers paid the bills, and we deserve to know who wasted our money staying in the $6,000-per-night hotel room,” Terrazzano said.

“If someone works for taxpayers and spends taxpayers’ money, they’re legally responsible to be accountable and transparent about it. The law is clear that expenses like this aren’t personal information.”

An individual with the Canadian government stayed in the River Suite at London’s five-star Corinthia Hotel, which offers butler service, a powder room, a bathtub with a built-in TV and separate rain shower, a marble bathroom with under-floor heating, and views of the River Thames.

The 904-square-foot hotel room cost $4,800 pounds per night, which would work out to somewhere between $6,000 to $7,000 per night depending on the exchange rate, according to documents from Global Affairs obtained by the Toronto Sun.

The lobby of the Corinthia was the location where Prime Minister Justin Trudeau was recorded singing Queen’s Bohemian Rhapsody two days before the funeral.

The government has refused to disclose who stayed in the room, but Rideau Hall indicated that it was not Governor General Mary Simon.

The official delegation to the State Funeral of the Queen included Trudeau and his wife Sophie Grégoire Trudeau, Simon and her spouse Whit Fraser, former Governors General Michaëlle Jean and David Johnston, as well as former Prime Ministers Kim Campbell, Jean Chrétien, Paul Martin, and Stephen Harper.

Three First Nations Chiefs and other government officials also attended, as did members of the RCMP.

On Oct. 27, 2022, the Sun alleged the hotel room was occupied by Trudeau and stated that the delegation expensed close to $400,000 just for hotel costs during the trip to attend the state funeral.

“Prime Minister Justin Trudeau needs to come clean and tell taxpayers who stayed in the River Suite. You don’t get to be prime minister and hide how you spend our tax dollars,” said Terrazzano.

The OIC is responsible for investigating complaints and resolving disputes related to the federal access-to-information system.

The prime minister’s office did not respond to a request for comment by press time.