The federal government spent over $1.5 million to accommodate public servants attending a UN conference on biodiversity in Montreal. Conservatives requested details on lodging expenditures for participation in the United Nations Biodiversity Conference in Montreal in 2022, and Environment Minister Steven Guilbeault released information indicating that the partial figure for hotel costs amounted to $1,539,052. The information also revealed that there were other costs incurred by travelers who booked their accommodations directly and were reimbursed by Environment and Climate Change Canada (ECCC).
Rooms were reserved at the Intercontinental Montreal and the Westin Montreal at rates between $249 and $289 per night. The government paid the Intercontinental $286,060 and the Westin $1,252,991. The Canadian Taxpayers Federation (CTF) questioned the cost of the trip, with its federal director, Franco Terrazzano, stating that Canadians pay a significant amount of money when politicians and bureaucrats travel abroad, as well as when they host conferences at home.
The COP15 conference resulted in a deal to strengthen the protection of the world’s biodiversity, aiming to safeguard at least 30 percent of land and sea. The CTF also highlighted the costs of public servants attending the 2021 UN Climate Change Conference in Glasgow and the COP27 conference in the Egyptian resort town of Sharm-El-Sheikh in 2022. The deputy minister of Environment, Chris Forbes, stated that the department would try to reduce the costs of attending such conferences.