Canadian leader Mark Carney spent half a MILLION dollars of taxpayers' money on plane food in his first year as Prime Minister

Published: 21:05, 11 April 2026 | Updated: 21:19, 11 April 2026 Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney reportedly spent more than half a million dollars of taxpayers' money on in-flight catering during his first year as leader.  Figures reportedly obtained by the Toronto Sun claim that Carney spent $524,815 (US$379,105) on 28 flights between March 2025 and February 2026. The data was released after questions were filed in the Canadian House of Commons. Carney reportedly spent $21,159 on catering during a two-hour flight on his first official visit to Washington DC to meet Donald Trump on May 5. The most expensive trip came during a visit to the United Arab Emirates and the G20 summit in Johannesburg, where $158,986.43 was reportedly spent on catering. A second trip in October saw nearly $16,824.65 spent on in-flight refreshments for the 55 delegates on board - around 11 times more than the cost of fuel for the journey, according to the Toronto Sun. A UK visit, where Carney met King Charles and Prime Minister Keir Starmer, came with a bill of $60,268.31, while a Vatican trip for Pope Leo XIV's inaugural mass cost $93,780.18. A note attached to the release of the data from the Department of National Defence reportedly said catering costs 'include the cost of food, non-alcoholic beverages, and associated fees, including catering handling and delivery, storage, cleaning and disposal of international waste, airport taxes, administrative fees, security charges, and local taxes.' Canada's Prime Minister Mark Carney waves as he boards his plane to depart for Norway, in Yellowknife, Northwest Territories, Canada, March 12, 2026 Daily Mail has contacted the Prime Minister's Office for comment. Canadian Taxpayers Federation director Franco Terrazzano told the Toronto Sun: 'Carney billed more money for airplane food in one year than an average Canadian family will spend on groceries in about 30 years.' 'I guess one way to beat the high cost of groceries in Canada is to take government work trips and bill taxpayers for expensive airplane food.' According to Canada's 2026 Food Price Report, the average cost of groceries for a family of four over a year is $17,571.79.  Carney's first year as Canada's leader has been dominated by his feud with Trump. Trump reignited trade war fears in a Truth Social post in February, claiming 'Canada has treated the United States very unfairly for decades.' Carney had earlier apologized to Trump over an anti-tariff TV advertisement that included remarks made by former US President Ronald Regan.  Trump was so infuriated by the ad, which aired in the US, that he increased tariffs on the country and halted US-Canada trade talk. One short trip to Washington, DC, where he met US President Donald Trump, saw food costs soar to nearly 11 times the price of fuel Speaking at an Asia-Pacific summit in South Korea, he said he had apologized privately to Trump at a dinner hosted by South Korea's president the week prior. 'I did apologize to the president,' Carney admitted. Carney, who replaced Justin Trudeau in March last year, ran a campaign that often pushed back at the president, specifically sharing his opposition of tariffs and Trump's suggestion Canada would one day become the 51st state of the US.   Carney has focused on trying to steer away from America and not rely on it as much as his country has in the past. Instead, he has looked toward strengthening ties with other nations, including South Africa, China and India. The comments below have not been moderated. The views expressed in the contents above are those of our users and do not necessarily reflect the views of MailOnline. By posting your comment you agree to our house rules. Do you want to automatically post your MailOnline comments to your Facebook Timeline? Your comment will be posted to MailOnline as usual. Do you want to automatically post your MailOnline comments to your Facebook Timeline? Your comment will be posted to MailOnline as usual We will automatically post your comment and a link to the news story to your Facebook timeline at the same time it is posted on MailOnline. To do this we will link your MailOnline account with your Facebook account. We’ll ask you to confirm this for your first post to Facebook. You can choose on each post whether you would like it to be posted to Facebook. Your details from Facebook will be used to provide you with tailored content, marketing and ads in line with our Privacy Policy.