Parliament spent nearly $600,000 on luxury hotel rooms it never used

Parliament spent nearly $600,000 on luxury hotel rooms it didn't use when nearly half of the listed delegates for a conference of European parliamentarians it hosted either didn't show up or chose less expensive hotels.

Parliament expected 700 delegates to attend the annual meeting of the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe Parliamentary Assembly, which took place in Vancouver from June 30 to July 4. The conference is usually held in Europe, where most of its members are based.

Only 365 delegates ended up attending, and not all of them stayed at the hotels the government selected. That left taxpayers on the hook for 1,400 overnight stays worth $596,000 in total — an average of $425 a night.

Audio-visual costs for the conference were also higher than expected, contributing to the event going $649,000 over the original budget of $1.8 million.

Sen. Elizabeth Marshall, former auditor general for Newfoundland and Labrador, questioned why the conference cost so much.

«It is very concerning, especially in the current economic times, when people are lined up at food banks while we're looking at a $1.8 million event that went 35 per cent over budget,» Marshall said when parliamentary officials appeared before the Senate's internal economy, budgets and administration committee. «That does not look good on either the Senate or the House of Commons.»

Conservative Sen. Don Plett said he was disturbed by the deficit.

«I'm not sure how we can just… sugarcoat this and pass this off,» he told the committee. «A deficit of over a half a million dollars.»

Members of Parliament were also taken aback by the amount of money spent on rooms that weren't used.

«I think this is a disastrous waste of money, quite frankly,» Conservative whip