Bills for Trudeau’s nine-day trip to India now top $1.5 million, documents show
OTTAWA — New documents suggest the bills for Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s troubled trip to India in February exceed $1.5 million.
The latest figures released by the government include $323,000 for hotel stays, $485,070 to fly and staff the VIP Airbus for 43.7 hours over the nine-day trip, $5,235 for cell phone fees, $5,100 to buy Canadian wines for use at official events and $17,044.21 to fly Vancouver Chef Vikram Vij to India, where he cooked a dinner for a meeting and an official reception at the Canadian High Commission in New Delhi.
Conservative MPs say the lavish trip was a huge waste of money, produced virtually no return on the investment other than the embarrassment of the Prime Minister’s Office accidentally inviting to a reception a man convicted of attempting to murder an Indian politician more than 30 years ago.
Trudeau says the trip helped secure $1 billion in two-way business deals between Canadian and Indian companies that will help create 5,800 jobs in Canada. He also says he spent less to go to India for nine days than Prime Minister Stephen Harper did to travel there for six days in 2012 or three days in 2009.