Not content to merely shovel hundreds-of-millions of dollars at Canadian journalists, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau wined and dined his buddies in the press during a lavish, taxpayer-funded garden party at Rideau Cottage.
The party was held on June 13, 2023, and featured wine and craft beer, catered meals from four of Ottawa’s finest eateries and napkins emblazoned with gold lettering.
The shindig cost taxpayers $11,651, according to records dug up by the Canadian Taxpayers Federation.
Cacio e pepe pasta was made fresh with a giant wheel of parmesan cheese. Salted caramel and hibiscus passionfruit ice cream, served in “eco-conscious” biodegradable containers, were handed out to press and politician alike.
Other menu offerings included tinga de pollo tostadas, vegetarian pastor tacos, fresh shrimp sliders and tuna tartar. Guests were able to wash down the grub with a blonde ale or IPA craft beer, as well as sauvignon blanc or cabernet sauvignon wine.
During the afternoon, Trudeau “held court with a rotating circle of journos,” according to the Hill Times. “(As) various members of the media, ministers and MPs mingled, it became immediately apparent that this was, in fact, a Trudeau party.”
Ask yourself: what kind of message does it send for politicians and the media to be wining and dining with each other on the taxpayer tab?
Booze purchases totalled $1,320, while catering costs came in at $4,841. All told, the one-day event cost taxpayers $11,651.
Annual garden parties at Canada’s official residences are a longstanding tradition on Parliament Hill, which the Liberals, Conservatives and NDP have all participated in, according to media reports (we don’t know if they charged you for the tab … but stay tuned).
The CBC, the Globe and Mail, the Canadian Press, the National Post, the Toronto Star, CTV and Global, among other newsrooms, attended the latest party, per the Hill Times.
Politicians present included Environment Minister Steven Guilbeault, then-Treasury Board President Mona Fortier, Intergovernmental Affairs Minister Dominic LeBlanc and Natural Resources Minister Jonathan Wilkinson, among others.
In November, the suits at News Media Canada, the chief newspaper lobby group, persuaded the Trudeau government to dump another $129 million into the industry.
This was a top-up of Trudeau’s $595-million newspaper bailout in 2019. The feds also gave the media the $50-million Local Journalism Initiative, $60 million in pandemic support and the $10-million Special Measures for Journalism.
All told, the Trudeau government earmarked more than $840 million in taxpayer cash for the Canadian news media. And that’s on top of the more than $1 billion a year the feds give CBC.
Here’s an idea.
If politicians want to hang out and party with the media, they can pay for it themselves.
Franco’s note: I like a bush party as much as the next guy, but I don’t stick taxpayers with the tab when me and the boys want to crush a couple cold ones.
More than 110K federal bureaucrats took home $100K and up in 2023
A total of 110,593 federal paper-pushers took home more than $100,000 in base salary last year, according to records dug up by the CTF.
That represents roughly one-third of the government’s overall workforce.
Since 2015, the number of bureaucrats taking a six-figure salary spiked by 154 per cent. Meanwhile, the overall number of bureaucrats ballooned by roughly 40 per cent and the cost of the federal payroll grew by 68 per cent.
The federal payroll now costs taxpayers a record high $67.4 billion.
VIDEO: MPs set to hike carbon, alcohol taxes and their own pay
We’re one month out from the day members of Parliament will take more money out of your wallet and stuff more into their own.
On April 1: carbon taxes go up, alcohol taxes go up and MP pay… you guessed it… goes up.
CTF Federal Director Franco Terrazzano breaks down everything you need to know about the MP pay and tax hike in the video below.
WATCH: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Aqw2RvwhsgM