Governor General Mary Simon’s trip to Iceland in October 2022 cost over $298,000, according to internal documents, which show in excess of $70,000 spent on “luxury travel.”
Documents obtained through an Access to Information request by the Canadian Taxpayers Federation (CTF) show that Ms. Simon and her entourage spent $71,000 on transportation provided by “Icelimo Luxury Travel” during her four-day visit to Iceland in the fall of 2022.
Some of the services listed on Icelimo’s website include “late model chauffeur driven luxury cars of your choice” and “genuine luxury travel life experiences … crafted with flair and finesse entirely around your dreams.”
Ms. Simon travelled to Iceland from Oct. 12 to 15, 2022, to attend the Arctic Circle Assembly, where she delivered a keynote address.
The governor general also met with Canadian delegates during her trip and participated in a “panel discussion on gender equality and diversity in Arctic leadership,” according to an October 11 press release from the Prime Minister’s Office at the time.
The CTF said that the total cost to taxpayers of Ms. Simon’s trip equated to over $1,000 per hour in the nearly 70 hours she and her entourage spent in Iceland.
Mrs. Simon’s entourage included her immediate staff, Canada’s ambassador to Iceland, a number of RCMP officers, two officials from Global Affairs Canada, and three officials from the Department of National Defence, according to her official itinerary.
Around $115,000 of the trip’s expense entailed hotel bookings and refreshment costs, while the entourage spent another $10,000 hosting a “Friends of Canada Reception.”
Travel Expenses
Also included in the trip’s overall cost was an $18,600 “pre-visit” to Iceland made by an unknown number of the governor general’s staff in August 2022, ahead of Simon’s arrival in October.Staff travelling on the pre-visit also spent $6,400 on transportation provided by Icelimo.
“The governor general spent more on fancy rides in four days than the average Canadian makes in a whole year,” said CTF’s Federal Director Franco Terrazzano.
“We’re not saying the governor general should be hitchhiking, but surely she could have gotten around a small island for less than the price of a brand-new BMW.”
Ms. Simon has previously come under fire for expensive travel decisions stemming from her week-long trip to the Middle East in March 2022, which cost taxpayers around $1.3 million, according to documents previously tabled with the House of Commons Standing Committee on Government Operations. The documents showed that in-flight catering fees during the trip amounted to about $218 per meal for each person present.
Conservative MP Kelly Block previously proposed a budget amendment to a House committee that would have reduced the governor general’s annual funding by around $136,000, but Liberal and NDP MPs opposed the motion.
The Liberal government’s most recent budget proposes to spend $24.3 million at Rideau Hall—the governor general’s residence—in 2023.
