It’s a gimmick but, let’s face it, it’s a good gimmick.
The Canadian Taxpayers’ Federation has launched with much fanfare an online petition aimed at getting the Trudeau government to ‘fess up when it comes to who slept in the $6,000-a-night hotel room whilst in London to attend the funeral of Queen Elizabeth II.
And it wasn’t just for one night. It was for five. So the bill for one room was $30,000, plus taxes.
At $6,000 per night, the cost of the River Suite at the ultra-luxury Corinthian Hotel even outdoes most rooms at Claridge’s, a hotel that bills itself as “the annex to Buckingham Palace.”
It was the River Suite in particular that spawned a question in the House of Commons from Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre. “Who got the $6,000 a night room?” asked the Tory leader.
The reply from Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said only that Canada went to the funeral with a “large delegation.”
“As Canadians know we had a large delegation including a number of previous prime ministers and former governors general … we stayed in the same hotel,” he said, adding that having a “large presence” for the funeral was “expected” of Canada.
When this patch of grandiose behaviour was first leaked by Postmedia’s Brian Lilley through a Freedom of Information request, Governor-General Mary Simon was quick to beat the heat by admitting the luxury suite wasn’t hers, this because of being burned two months ago for incurring a $100,000 bill for her delegation’s in-flight meals during a trip to Dubai.
So, if not the Queen’s—er, King’s—representative, then who?
Could it be Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and his bride, Sophie Gregoire Trudeau?
If it was, no one is saying.
To end the stonewalling, the Canadian Taxpayers’ Federation is hoping a few hundred thousand signatures on its petition will loosen the tongue of some senior official — perhaps even the PM himself — to cough up a name.
“The government needs to come clean. You (the taxpayer) paid the bill,” said the federation. “You deserve full transparency.
Canada sent a rather large contingent of VIPs to the funeral, including actress Sandra Oh, Olympian swimmer Mark Tewksbury, musician Gregory Charles — Trudeau’s Bohemian Rhapsody sing-along partner — and former prime ministers Kim Campbell, Jean Chrétien, Paul Martin, and Stephen Harper.
Canada also sent representatives of more than a dozen military regiments as well as the RCMP, who were noted for leading the Queen’s funeral procession on horseback. But these delegates were not at the Corinthian. Nor were staff related to the prime ministerial delegation, who appear to have been put up for a fraction of the cost at a Hilton near London’s Stansted Airport.
The total bill for their lodging was under $40,000.
Despite steep London hotel costs, many high-profile dignitaries to the Queen’s funeral were able to avoid hotel costs entirely by staying at London properties controlled by their respective governments.
Most notably, U.S. President Joe Biden stayed at Winfield House, a London townhouse that is the official residence of the U.S. Ambassador to the United Kingdom.
Like the U.S., the Government of Canada similarly controls a fair amount of real estate in the British capital. Canada House is a massive complex on the edge of Trafalgar Square that is the home of the Canadian High Commission to the U.K. It’s also just a 14-minute walk to Westminster Abbey, the site of the funeral.
But it’s not the Corinthian, is it?
Nor was it a $16-glass of orange juice at the upscale Savoy that, thanks to unrelenting Liberal attack dogs, drove Conservative minister Bev Oda completely out of politics a decade ago.
No, the River Suite was 375 times worse — and that’s per night.
And it is all on Trudeau and the Liberals.
