OTTAWA — As grocery prices continue to squeeze Canadian households and food bank usage hits record highs, Prime Minister Mark Carney’s office has quietly racked up more than half a million dollars in taxpayer-funded in-flight meals aboard the government’s VIP aircraft.
According to figures obtained through Order Paper Questions in the House of Commons and first reported by the Toronto Sun, the Prime Minister’s Office spent $524,815.04 on in-flight catering across 28 separate trips between March 2025 and February 2026.
One particularly glaring example stands out: a relatively short Ottawa-to-Washington flight carried a $16,824.65 catering bill for 55 passengers — nearly 11 times the amount the Royal Canadian Air Force spent on jet fuel for the same leg on the CC-330 Husky.
Other eye-watering tabs included nearly $94,000 for catering on a trip connected to the Vatican, tens of thousands more on early international flights to meet UK officials and European leaders, and a massive bill for a journey that combined the United Arab Emirates and the G20 in South Africa.
The details paint a picture of high-altitude indulgence at a time when many Canadians are struggling to put food on the table. The latest Food Price Report estimates an average family of four now spends roughly $17,500 annually on groceries — meaning Carney’s one-year catering tab exceeds what many families spend on food over nearly 30 years.
Franco Terrazzano of the Canadian Taxpayers Federation was blunt in his assessment: this level of spending on airplane refreshments is indefensible when families across the country are lining up at food banks in unprecedented numbers.
Conservative MPs have seized on the revelations, accusing the Prime Minister of living lavishly while preaching fiscal responsibility and affordability. Critics point out that the government has repeatedly highlighted the cost-of-living crisis yet appears unwilling to apply the same scrutiny to its own travel expenses.
The Toronto Sun sought comment from the Prime Minister’s Office but received no response by publication time. Full menus, detailed passenger manifests beyond the standard 55-person delegations, and exact security-related withholdings were not disclosed in the parliamentary records.
This latest disclosure adds to growing scrutiny of government travel spending under Carney, who took office after the 2025 federal election. While official travel is often justified by diplomatic necessities, the scale of the catering costs has sparked fresh outrage among taxpayers already burdened by inflation, housing costs, and stagnant wages.
Canadians expect their leaders to represent the country with dignity — but many are now asking whether that dignity must come with a side of $500,000 worth of in-flight dining.
