No justification for PM’s travel expense

DEAR EDITOR:

News reports indicate that the prime minister came to Kelowna on Monday this week, flying with his entourage in the Challenger jet and that he invited some of the media to join him, but said that they were not allowed to ask questions.

In Kelowna, he apparently visited a number of businesses and spoke with owners and employees, and he met a number of city council members, as well as with local officials of the Liberal Party, and he had a reunion with former MP for Kelowna – Lake Country, Stephen Fuhr. Fuhr subsequently said that the PM’s visit was not a photo op.

Trudeau later flew from Kelowna to Penticton, from where he went to Summerland, and again met up with some local councillors, they bringing their wives and children along as well. He later visited a local cherry orchard where he clowned about his poor performance picking cherries and how he preferred to keep his day job until he retires. What arrogance, thinking that he deserves to stay in office beyond the next election.

Before returning to Penticton airport, Trudeau had some of his staff members request of the operators of the Kettle Valley Historic railway to hold their regular tourist train on the trestle at the Canyon View Station where he could blow the train’s whistle.

The news coverage of the prime minister’s visit to the Okanagan was without doubt a series of photo ops. The same was the case on the following day when he took his private plane to Vancouver for more photo ops, and no questions from the media.

I simply can’t see any justification for the expenditure of a huge sum on his travels, and do hope that there is some way in which the media can obtain what was the total cost of operating the aircraft, his security detail, the Mounties who had to have been on hand to throw an errant reporter from the venues then the travel by road from Penticton to Summerland, and including a hotel stop on Monday before he headed further west.

Hopefully, through Freedom to Information legislation, the media can get some answers then make that information. public.

Robert Mason, Summerland