Calgary MP says Liberal government wasted millions on quarantine hotel stays
CTV
A Calgary MP says she's learned the Liberal government gave more than $6.7 million in taxpayer money to a local hotel designated as a "quarantine hotel," but only 15 people stayed there in 2022.
A Calgary MP says she's learned the Liberal government gave more than $6.7 million in taxpayer money to a local hotel designated as a "quarantine hotel," but only 15 people stayed there in 2022.
Michelle Rempel Garner, Conservative MP for Calgary-Nose Hill, says she discovered the public expenditure during a response to her order paper question that she'd submitted before the House of Commons went on Christmas break.
Rempel Garner's inquiry was about an amount the federal government spent on "quarantine hotels."
"For those who don't recall, during the pandemic, under various restrictions, the federal Liberal government required people returning to Canada from abroad to stay at designated hotels," Rempel Garner wrote in a blog post on Monday.
She says "a hunch" prompted her to submit the order paper question regarding two Calgary hotels that she knew were under the program – the Westin Calgary Airport hotel and the Acclaim Calgary Airport hotel.
The federal government's response, which Rempel Garner included in her post, indicated that while the Westin Calgary hotel was designated a quarantine facility, the Acclaim Calgary hotel was only allowed to receive air travellers who needed to stay isolated for the mandatory three-night period.
It said for the financial year 2022-23, the Liberal government paid $6,790,717.46 in expenditures to the Westin Calgary Airport hotel for lodging and meals.
