Canadian taxpayers coughed up $42,000 to pay for former Liberal MP Catherine McKenna’s “climate change” farewell tour that saw her jet set 22,600 kilometres across Canada.
According to Blacklock’s Reporter, McKenna’s plane guzzled tens of thousands of litres of aviation fuel as she was telling Canadians to change their habits to combat climate change.
“We need to reduce air pollution. Consider that the transportation sector represents a quarter of Canada’s greenhouse gas emissions,” McKenna lectured Canadians in Edmonton on July 27.
Between July 24 and August 4, McKenna and her staffers got to fly from Ottawa to Toronto and Vancouver, even reaching Iqaluit and Pangnirtung.
When breaking down the costs, taxpayers dished $24,665 in air fares alone while McKenna and her staffers got to enjoy $9,876 worth of hotel stays and a $5,473 meal bill.
Among those accompanying McKenna on her tour were Assistant Deputy Minister Gerard Peets, parliamentary secretary Andy Fillmore, press secretary Emelyana Titarenko, communications director Michelle Johnston, policy director Louis Jarda, policy advisors Nathan Bessner and Daniel Turner, Twitter advisor Murielle Pierre and special assistant Joshua Swift.
“There is nothing more important. We will get out of the COVID-19 pandemic, thank God, but then we will have the climate crisis, and we need to move forward together,” said McKenna.
“Climate policy is actually tricky because it’s not just transit, it’s across all sectors, but it’s also being really diligent at looking at what are your emissions so you can actually tackle them.”
A report by the auditor general found that McKenna’s department, Infrastructure Canada, was continuously failing to meet its goals.
Over her tenure in the cabinet position, the Canada Infrastructure Bank which was founded by the Liberal government four years ago, has failed to produce the completion of a single project.
