The Dazzle of A Royal Title - Lèse-majesté

"You know the feds spared no expense when tge Governor General could have bought a brand new BMW, drove it around the island and then left it outside the airport with the keys inside and still saved money."

"It seems like Simon and her band of bureaucrats go out of the way to spend as much money as possible."

"Clearly, Simon likes to jet around the world spending buckets of taxpayer cash, but what value are taxpayers getting out of all her fancy trips."

"The feds need to rein in the cost of international trips and Simon's budget."

Franco Terrazzano, federal director, Canadian Taxpayers Federation

Gov. Gen. Mary Simon, pictured here during a trip to B.C. in May, said her office was working with Global Affairs Canada and the Department of National Defence to make sure future trips are costed efficiently. (Chad Hipolito/The Canadian Press)

The current Liberal-government-appointed Governor General, Mary Simon, whose appointment hit two aspirational points of progressivism and Indigenous recognition, is racking up expenses for superfluous charges that even the British royal family whom she diplomatically represents within the constitutional monarchy that is Canada as a member of the British Commonwealth with all the cultural traditions inherent in the historical relationship, is burning through taxpayer-funded expenses as though she is herself a royal personage.

 

Her expenses have been a matter of public display in their extravagance and entitlement. This is a woman for whom caution and a measure of humility are foreign measures meant for others in the public eye; as a woman and a First Nations Crown representative she feels she is above reproach and need practise no measure of restraint in flinging about treasury. The latest among many such revelations revealed by the Canadian Taxpayers Federation through an access to information request will set many observers back on their incredulous heels.

For a four-day trip to Iceland to attend an Arctic Circle Assembly in her ceremonial role during which her presence was meant to "demonstrate Canadian leadership in the Arctic and reinforce other priority issues for Canada in the north, including climate change, reconciliation, gender equality and youth engagement", charges were expensed for "GG visit transportation services" for a total of $64,799.57, payable to a VIP transportation entity based near Reykjavik for limousines and transportation.

Simon is Canada's first Indigenous Governor General. She was born in Kangiqsualujjuaq in northern Quebec. Governor General Mary Simon makes her way into the Qarmaapik Family House in Kangiqsualujjuaq, Que. (Adrian Wyld/The Canadian Press)

 

The official program stated the entirety of the four-day visit took place entirely within Reykjavik, a city with a population of 130,000. The Governor General and her entourage stayed at the Hotel Borg, a luxury hotel, and the Harpa Conference Centre where many of the meetings and panel discussions for the conference took place is located less than 500 metres away, a seven-minute drive, or eight-minute walk.

Canada's embassy is located in a seven-minute, 300-metre walking-distance from the hotel as well. Some functions were held at the University of Iceland, a 1.5-kilometre drive from the hotel, just as Reykjavik city library where other functions were held is a two-minute, 350-metre drive, and Fossvogur cemetery, about five kilometres' distance. Walking the several minutes it would require to arrive at each of those destinations, is obviously considered beneath the dignity of a representative of the British Crown. 

A visit with Iceland's President Guoni Thorlacius Johannesson at his residence nearby included a wreath-laying at the city's war cemetery. Hotel costs added up to $115,00 for the entire group accompanying the Governor General. But it is the startling limousine cost that stands in a prominent display of utter extravagant waste. The type of passenger fare that most flyers abroad are served was not on display in the in-flight meals between Ottawa and Reykjavik where beef bourguignon with mashed potatoes and Icelandic skyr mousse with strawberry sauce for dessert were served the honourable guests.

The viceroy's weeklong trip in March of 2022 to the Middle East on the other hand, included a $100,000 inflight catering bill for herself and her entourage of 28 others with the entire cost of that trip coming to $1.2 million. A four-day state visit to the Frankfurt Book Fair the year before totalled over $700,000 which included $103,00 for inflight catering. This is an individual who takes seriously her post and in representing the Crown she has been transformed to a Royal.

 

King Charles receives Mary Simon, Governor General of Canada, during an audience at Buckingham Palace, London on May 4, 2023. (Gareth Fuller/Pool via AP Photo)