Adedokun Waliyu 
Despite assertions by a cabinet minister that summer road trips cause wildfires, just under half of the nearly 182,000 kilometres flown by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau so far this year took place during the past three months.
Data from publicly-accessible flight trackers reveals Trudeau flew 92,100 kilometres on government-owned aircraft from June 1-Sept. 12 — mainly aboard one of the RCAF’s four Bombardier Challenger 650 business jets.
So far in 2024, the PM logged 181,950 kilometres in flights, spread across around 68 flight cycles (a departure followed by a landing.)
Deputy Conservative Leader Melissa Lantsman told The Toronto Sun the PM’s travels are an insult to Canadians who — thanks to the ongoing cost-of-living and affordability crisis — couldn’t afford to go anywhere this summer.
“While some travel is necessary for a prime minister, Justin Trudeau has already shown Canadians that he never misses an opportunity to go on lavish trips and rub shoulders with elites around the world at taxpayer expense, while ignoring the suffering he is causing at home in Canada,” she said.
“What’s worse, is that while the Liberals were busy saying Canadians who take their families on road trips and summer vacations are guilty of burning down the world, the Liberals were racking up thousands of kilometres of jetsetting carbon hypocrisy.”
A Conservative government, she said, would “demonstrate respect” when it comes to government travel.
The PM’s longest flight was June 12 — eight hours and 11 minutes, from Ottawa to Taranto, Italy, for the G7 summit, a 7,100-kilometre journey.
His longest within Canada was a four-hour, 33-minute flight on Feb. 21, from Edmonton to Sydney, N.S. — a total of about 3,800 kilometres.
That was closely followed by a July 21 flight from Ottawa to Tofino, B.C., for the PM’s summer vacation.
The shortest flight of the year — 53 kilometres, from a Liberal retreat in Nanaimo, B.C., to Vancouver — took place Sept. 11. On Feb. 1, he flew 66 kilometres on a 14-minute flight from Pearson airport in Mississauga to Waterloo.
The roughly 45-minute hop between Ottawa and Toronto was the PM’s most-travelled route, with 32 separate flights this year.
Forty-seven were flights under 400 kilometres., including a 197-kilometre post-vacation flight from Tofino to Vancouver on Aug. 1, a 200 kilometre same-day round trip between Ottawa and CFB Trenton, and 240 kilometres from Ottawa to Peterborough on Feb. 8.
While official costs for the RCAF’s Challenger 650 fleet are not available, government tables from 2019 list operating costs for the now-decommissioned (and less-efficient) Challenger 601s at $17,000 per hour, consuming 1,260 litres of jet fuel hourly.
Requests to DND for updated cost tables weren’t returned by press time.
Despite assurances that a response would come, the Sun’s offers to the PMO for comment went unanswered. Offers to the NDP for comment likewise went unacknowledged.
Spadina-Fort York MP Kevin Vuong said that while prime ministers need secure travel, questions of hypocrisy are inevitable.
“It has become painfully clear to Canadians that ‘rules for thee, not for me’ is the unofficial slogan that guides Justin Trudeau,” the independent MP said.
Green Party Leader Elizabeth May told the Sun she doesn’t fault Trudeau for needing to fly, but accused the Liberals of sidelining climate issues.
“My biggest complaint with Liberal hypocrisy isn’t that the prime minister flies around a lot, is that he buys pipelines,” she said, referring to the 2018 Trans Mountain pipeline purchase.
“It’s a climate crime to boost greenhouse gas production from the oilsands by building a pipeline the private sector had decided was not profitable.”
