Feds spend nearly $1,900 on cardboard cut-outs of Trudeau to ‘promote Canada’

Global Affairs Canada says the department bought 14 of the cut-outs, ranging in price from $63.24 for an individual cut-out to as high as $239.27 for two.

Thestar.com
May 9, 2017
By The Canadian Press

Documents released to the House of Commons this week show the federal government paid nearly $1,900 for more than a dozen cardboard cut-outs of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau that were put on display at some Canadian missions abroad before their use was quickly banned and they were placed in storage.

The figures are found in answers to inquiries from Conservative MP Ben Lobb, who asked which departments and agencies bought the cut-outs, how much each cost and who authorized the purchase.

Global Affairs Canada says the department bought 14 of the cut-outs, ranging in price from $63.24 for an individual cut-out to as high as $239.27 for two.

Read more:Global Affairs Canada nixes cardboard cut-outs of Justin Trudeau

Other costs included shipping and, in one case, $464.20 for a wooden backing frame to hold the life-size image of Trudeau in a black suit, black shirt and silver tie.

The response did not say who approved the purchases.

Soon after they were seen at events at Canadian missions and government-sponsored events in the United States, Global Affairs instructed missions to no longer use the replicas to promote Canada.

The prime ministerial replicas had been put on display at an event last June organized by the Canadian consulate in Atlanta and in March at a Canadian music festival in Austin, Texas.

In its response to Lobb’s questions, dated Mar. 21, Global Affairs said Canada was “re-engaging with the world to champion the values that Canadians hold dear and advance our interests.”

But the Conservatives question what value the Liberals place on vanity.

“I don’t think a two-dimensional cut-out of our prime minister champions our values,” said Tory MP John Brassard.

“There’s hard-working Canadians who don’t have $2,000 in their bank accounts and yet foreign affairs is buying cardboard cut-outs of our prime minister.”