• $2,904 for two nights in Munich hotel
• $2,310 for three nights in Istanbul hotel

 Peter’s Excellent Adventures: Part I

Defence Minister Peter MacKay charged taxpayers $2,904 for a two night stay at the luxurious Bayerischer Hof when he went to a security conference in Munich, Germany in February of 2010. MacKay arrived in Munich after attending an informal meeting of NATO defence ministers in Turkey, where he billed taxpayers $2,310 for a three night stay at Istanbul’s Ceylan Intercontinental Hotel. At $1,452 and $770 a night respectively, these room tabs go far beyond what most taxpayers would consider reasonable.

In Munich, MacKay’s staff stayed at the Munich Park Hilton, an eight-minute cab ride away, for $239 a night. In Istanbul, MacKay’s staff stayed in the same hotel, but paid $276 per night.

Frommers travel guide lists the Bayerischer Hof first in its list of “very expensive” hotels in central Munich and according to Fodor’s Travel Intelligence, “King Ludwig I of Bavaria paid regular visits to take a royal bath,” there.

Clearly, the Defence Minster has some explaining to do.

Using Access to Information requests, the CTF researchers have examined the details of the Minister’s spending since he took over at DND.

A detailed backgrounder of the CTF’s research can be found HERE.

More to follow.