On Parliament Hill

As we near the one-year mark of the Liberal Government, one thing is clear: Liberals wasted no time getting comfortable spending taxpayers’ money.

In August, we learned that Health Minister Jane Philpott spent over $3,700 on a luxury Lexus just to drive around the Toronto, Hamilton, and Niagara areas while on ministerial business on two occasions. Unsurprisingly, the owner of the rental company who benefitted from the minister’s frivolous spending happened to be one of her strong supporters. As if that wasn’t enough, she also charged taxpayers $520 for access to Air Canada’s executive airport lounges in North America and Europe.

Then we learned that Environment Minister Catherine McKenna billed taxpayers more than $6,600 for an official photographer to take pictures of her while she attended a climate summit in Paris. Since the Liberals formed government in November, Minister McKenna’s office has spent $17,000 on photographers alone for 15 events.

The latest outrageous expenses charged to taxpayers come from the Prime Minister’s Office itself. Prime Minister Trudeau signed off on more than $200,000 to move two of his senior advisors – close friends of his – from Toronto to Ottawa to work in his office. One move cost Canadians an astounding $127,000 and the other came in around $80,000. He could have said no to these exorbitant amounts, but it wasn’t his money on the line.

In fairness, Minister Philpott and the prime minister’s two senior advisors have repaid or intend to repay some of the excessive expenses they charged to taxpayers. But the larger concern is that they did so only after they were caught. We all recognize that governments are elected to get things done, and this costs money. But taxpayers expect governments to spend their tax dollars responsibly on things that help their families, grow the economy, and keep Canada safe. Fancy car rides, vanity photographs, and remarkably high relocation costs don’t do any of that. While this Liberal Government has made it clear that they’re not worried about the bills they’ll never have to pay, Conservatives will continue to stand up for taxpayers every single day.