In what an opposition member of Parliament called “an inappropriate use of taxpayers’ dollars,” Canada’s Prime Minister Stephen Harper gave visiting European delegates a free flight home to Brussels last week.
The flight aboard a Canadian Forces plane is estimated to have cost over $300,000, according to the domestic broadcaster, CBC.
The two EU dignitaries were in Canada to sign a free-trade agreement between Canada and the European Union, although the deal has yet to be ratified.
Last-minute reception with business leaders
In a last-minute change of plan, the two were invited to a reception with business leaders in Toronto. Since attending it would have caused them to miss their commercial flight, the prime minister offered a government plane and arranged the necessary extra motorcades and security arrangements.
Usually only royalty or the pope are offered such arrangements, says CBC.
“This is a last-minute attempt by the Harper government to use these officials as props in their continued staging for Canadians’ use. And that’s what makes this, I think, an inappropriate use of taxpayers’ dollars, “said Don Davies, a member of Parliament with the New Democratic Party.
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