Environment Minister Steven Guilbeault and five staff billed more than $100,000 to attend a United Nations climate conference, according to newly released records. Air fare for the six cost more than $37,000 including $11,246 for Guilbeault..“We are fully committed to taking stronger actions to limit the effects of climate change,” Guilbeault said in a statement marking the UN Climate Conference in Glasgow last October 30. He said a climate crisis was an “inescapable reality," and "we must all work together.”.According to Blacklock's Reporter, accounts show Guilbeault spent $22,023 to attend the conference, including $11,246 in airfare. His other expenses were $8,327 in hotels and $2,034 for meals..“Climate change can no longer be considered a future threat — it is upon us,” said Guilbeault in a statement issued through the Department of Environment. “From droughts to wildfires to shoreline erosion and floods, Canadians are already feeling the effects.”.Guilbeault was accompanied at the climate conference by press aide Sabrina Kim, Deputy Minister Christine Hogan, Assistant Deputy Minister Catherine Stewart, policy director Joanna Dafoe and policy advisor Elena Mitchell..Costs for the group totalled $101,712. Expenses included $12,653 worth of meals, another $37,171 for airfare and $49,265 for hotels..Guilbeault, on his return from Glasgow, invoked disastrous imagery to illustrate the need for climate change action. “When the roof is leaking over our heads we must repair it and then we can think about what to have for dinner,” Guilbeault told the House of Commons May 17. “We can and we must mitigate the impacts of climate change.”.“When there is a fire, we need more firefighters, not fewer,” Guilbeault said May 12. “We need more environmentalists in the House and definitely within government to advance environmental issues.”.Cabinet to date has not detailed total costs of sending a 276-member delegation to the Glasgow conference. The Canadian Taxpayers Federation on May 26 awarded Canadian delegates a pig-shaped trophy as a Lifetime Achievement Award for waste..Delegates to the conference included Deputy Finance Minister Michael Sabia who billed $13,655 to attend the final three days of the meeting. Sabia in public speeches urged Canadians to think about climate change..“It is important to make a positive contribution to what I think is a massive issue facing humanity, climate change,” said Sabia. The deputy in 2018 remarks attributed catastrophes to global warming..“We see its impact every day,” said Sabia. “Heat waves and drought in Europe, this summer record temperatures of 33 degrees Celsius north of the Arctic Circle, deadly hurricanes, floods, wildfires that were the largest in the history of the state of California.”.Canada “must meet its greenhouse gas emissions to build a cleaner and more prosperous economy for the future,” Sabia told reporters in 2020. “The evidence is there.”
Environment Minister Steven Guilbeault and five staff billed more than $100,000 to attend a United Nations climate conference, according to newly released records. Air fare for the six cost more than $37,000 including $11,246 for Guilbeault..“We are fully committed to taking stronger actions to limit the effects of climate change,” Guilbeault said in a statement marking the UN Climate Conference in Glasgow last October 30. He said a climate crisis was an “inescapable reality," and "we must all work together.”.According to Blacklock's Reporter, accounts show Guilbeault spent $22,023 to attend the conference, including $11,246 in airfare. His other expenses were $8,327 in hotels and $2,034 for meals..“Climate change can no longer be considered a future threat — it is upon us,” said Guilbeault in a statement issued through the Department of Environment. “From droughts to wildfires to shoreline erosion and floods, Canadians are already feeling the effects.”.Guilbeault was accompanied at the climate conference by press aide Sabrina Kim, Deputy Minister Christine Hogan, Assistant Deputy Minister Catherine Stewart, policy director Joanna Dafoe and policy advisor Elena Mitchell..Costs for the group totalled $101,712. Expenses included $12,653 worth of meals, another $37,171 for airfare and $49,265 for hotels..Guilbeault, on his return from Glasgow, invoked disastrous imagery to illustrate the need for climate change action. “When the roof is leaking over our heads we must repair it and then we can think about what to have for dinner,” Guilbeault told the House of Commons May 17. “We can and we must mitigate the impacts of climate change.”.“When there is a fire, we need more firefighters, not fewer,” Guilbeault said May 12. “We need more environmentalists in the House and definitely within government to advance environmental issues.”.Cabinet to date has not detailed total costs of sending a 276-member delegation to the Glasgow conference. The Canadian Taxpayers Federation on May 26 awarded Canadian delegates a pig-shaped trophy as a Lifetime Achievement Award for waste..Delegates to the conference included Deputy Finance Minister Michael Sabia who billed $13,655 to attend the final three days of the meeting. Sabia in public speeches urged Canadians to think about climate change..“It is important to make a positive contribution to what I think is a massive issue facing humanity, climate change,” said Sabia. The deputy in 2018 remarks attributed catastrophes to global warming..“We see its impact every day,” said Sabia. “Heat waves and drought in Europe, this summer record temperatures of 33 degrees Celsius north of the Arctic Circle, deadly hurricanes, floods, wildfires that were the largest in the history of the state of California.”.Canada “must meet its greenhouse gas emissions to build a cleaner and more prosperous economy for the future,” Sabia told reporters in 2020. “The evidence is there.”
