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Prime Minister Mark Carney’s last-minute trip to October’s Gaza peace summit in Egypt cost Canadian taxpayers more than $736,466 — more than three times higher than it would have been if the Royal Canadian Air Force had been able to supply a plane.
While the government chartered a Bombardier Global 5000 jet from the Chartright Air Group, in an answer tabled in the House of Commons, the Department of National Defence estimates using a government-owned Challenger aircraft would have cost $198,800.
In advertising, the Bombardier Global 5000 business jet is touted for its speed, range and comfort.
The final cost for the trip may be higher than the $736,466 the Privy Council Office reported when asked for the “expenditures related to the flight.”
The Privy Council Office did not provide a breakdown of that spending and has not yet responded to a request from CBC News for clarification whether the price tag it provided included other costs often associated with travel by Canada’s prime minister, such as salaries of RCMP officers who provide security, salaries of government employees who accompanied him or hotel costs.
Several world leaders, including Carney, scrambled to get to the Red Sea resort city of Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt, on Thanksgiving weekend after U.S. President Donald Trump invited them to take part in a peace summit.
The summit included the signing of a document designed to officially end the war in Gaza.
Among the world leaders who attended were France’s Emmanuel Macron, the U.K.’s Keir Starmer, Italy’s Giorgia Meloni, Germany’s Friedrich Merz and Turkey’s Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
While it was reported on at the time, the government’s answer to a question placed on the House of Commons order paper by Conservative MP Larry Brock sheds new light on Carney’s trip.
The Privy Council Office said Carney’s decision to attend was taken at 8:30 a.m. on Oct. 12 “subject to various checks and confirmations throughout the day.”
By 6:45 p.m., the plane left Ottawa with Carney, a security team and a half dozen staffers, landing the next morning at Sharm El Sheikh International Airport.
With Carney was his chief of staff Marc-André Blanchard; executive assistant Kaitlin Power; senior advance official Emily Grant; foreign, defence and security adviser Scott Gilmore; director of global affairs Lisa Jorgensen and videographer Daniel Pereira.
While Canadian media usually accompany the prime minister on official trips, Carney did not include any journalists.
The plane left Egypt on Oct. 14 at 8 a.m. and returned to Ottawa at 1:24 p.m. that day — 42 hours after it had left the nation’s capital.
The government’s response said meals were only provided on the return flight — American breakfast and flavoured yogurt, Caprese salad and Italian chicken.
At the time, much of the discussion surrounding the trip centred on why the air force wasn’t able to provide one of the aircraft and crews usually used for travel by the prime minister. For years, Canada’s prime ministers have travelled on government aircraft for security reasons.
In its response, National Defence said it was “extremely rare” for it to not be able to provide transport for the prime minister and “this is the sole instance in recent times where contingencies were not possible.”
“In this case, most crews were already committed, and while a Challenger crew was available, the aircraft could not meet the itinerary requirements,” it wrote. “There were also not enough crews for the larger Airbus aircraft because they were assigned to other missions, training or rest.”
National Defence said its policy is to keep one aircraft and crew on 12-hour notice to move and another on 24-hour notice.
The Prime Minister’s Office has not yet responded to questions from CBC News.
In the days that followed the summit, a senior official in Carney’s office touted the benefits of Carney attending in an interview with CBC News.
The official, who spoke on condition they not be named, said Trump’s delayed arrival spurred a rare ad hoc meeting that allowed leaders, including Carney, to talk openly and candidly. The official said leaders discussed ways various countries could help.
They said Carney pushed on getting more aid into Gaza quickly and told other leaders that Canada had supplies ready to go.
