Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s failed pet project to get Canada a seat at the United Nations Security Council cost taxpayers over $8.6 million.
According to the Canadian Taxpayers Federation (CTF), Trudeau’s doomed campaign had a final bill of $8,664,524.
Records show that a majority of the funds went towards paying the salaries of the bureaucrats tasked with handling the campaign. In total, $6,218,498 went towards salaries while an additional $2,446,026 went towards “operational expenses.”
Despite the millions Trudeau dedicated to acquiring a seat, Canada came in third place behind Ireland and Norway.
“Wasting millions of dollars for a seat on the UN’s security council would be bad enough, but spending over $8.6 million to finish in third shows that this campaign was a big swing and a miss for taxpayers,” said CTF Federal Director Franco Terrazzano.
“The amount the government spent on each vote is more than many Canadians earn each year.”
When broken down based on the 108 votes acquired during the campaign, Canada spent over $80,227 per vote.
True North reached out to the office of the Minister of Foreign Affairs for comment but did not hear back in time for publication of this report.
As the CTF notes, a full breakdown of the costs has yet to be released by the federal government.
Prior revelations show expenses like paying $24,000 to purchase Canada-themed candies and $140,000 on a trip for Trudeau which was cancelled.
“We already know the government spent more than $1,000 on cookies and key chains during the failed campaign,” said Terrazzano.
“Taxpayers are eagerly waiting to see what else the government thought would be a good idea to spend our money on in its efforts to impress UN bureaucrats.”
As revealed by True North, the Canadian mainstream media gave Trudeau a pass for his failed bid while a similar effort by former prime minister Stephen Harper was lambasted and ridiculed by outlets like the Globe and Mail and the CBC.
