Justin Trudeau’s Easter weekend vacation at a posh club in the heart of the Montana mountains cost Canadian taxpayers nearly $230,000, an amount nearly 10 times higher than the amount the government had claimed in mid-September.
On September 18, MP Luc Berthold, in response to a question from the Conservatives, stated that expenses for the Prime Minister’s vacation from April 6 to 10 amounted to just over $23,800.
However, as CBC News reported on Wednesday, the actual cost of Mr. Trudeau’s vacation at the Yellowstone Club is closer to $228,829 if we take into account a bill of more than $200,000 accepted by the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) to ensure security of the Prime Minister during his vacation.
The cost disclosed by the public broadcaster does not include the normal salaries of members of the RCMP, Royal Canadian Air Force and personnel who accompanied Justin Trudeau to Montana.
This isn’t the first time Justin Trudeau’s vacation has drawn attention. During his first term, he spent the 2016 Christmas holidays on the Aga Khan’s private island and was ultimately reprimanded by Canada’s ethics commissioner.
This year, Mr. Trudeau celebrated the New Year in Jamaica at the property of a family friend and Trudeau Foundation donor, a trip that cost taxpayers more than $160,000.
The Prime Minister’s holiday is controversial not only because of its cost. In September 2021, at the end of the last election campaign, Justin Trudeau took a few days off in Tofino, British Columbia. However, to the great dismay of the indigenous communities, he had decided to settle down precisely on the occasion of the first-ever National Truth and Reconciliation Day celebrations.