A New Brunswick senator billed taxpayers thousands of dollars for a trip to a country that accounts for just 0.0003 per cent of Canada’s exports.

Senator René Cormier is the highest-spending senator in New Brunswick and the ninth highest in Canada.

“Nobody in New Brunswick voted for Cormier, but everybody in New Brunswick is paying for his passport stamps,” said Devin Drover, Canadian Taxpayers Federation Atlantic Director and General Counsel. “New Brunswick families are paying $64,000 for his trips abroad and he owes them a straight answer on what they got for it.”

Cormier spent $63,860 on international travel between January 2023 and March 2026, according to records obtained by the CTF.

Cormier travelled to Senegal, Cabo Verde, Argentina, Chile, Uruguay, France and Paraguay.

Cormier billed taxpayers $17,068 for a five-day trip to Dakar, Senegal, and Praia, Cabo Verde, in March 2025. Parliament sent five senators and no elected MPs. The delegation cost taxpayers $95,795.

Canada only exports about $2.4 million worth of goods annually to Cabo Verde. That’s about 0.0003 per cent of Canada’s exports.

Cormier billed taxpayers $7,530 for a five-day trip to Buenos Aires, Argentina, and Montevideo, Uruguay, in March 2025. Parliament sent three senators and one elected MP, Richard Cannings.

The entire trip cost $76,236. The delegation spent $3,744 on hospitality, including a $1,794 dinner for 10 people.

Parliament did not release a report on the trip. However, Argentina’s government records identify Cannings speaking on behalf of the Canadian delegation during a meeting with Argentine lawmakers. The records do not attribute any remarks to Cormier.

While in Uruguay, Canada’s ambassador hosted the delegation for a reception at her residence, “with a privileged view of the sea.”

Cormier billed taxpayers $9,546 to attend a three-day parliamentary conference in Santiago, Chile, in April 2023. Parliament sent six elected MPs to the conference: Dave Epp, Alistair MacGregor, Soraya Martinez Ferrada, Rob Morrison, Marc Serré and Nathalie Sinclair-Desgagné. The 10-person delegation cost taxpayers $91,787.

Senator Pierrette Ringuette was New Brunswick’s second-highest-spending senator, billing taxpayers $25,315 for three international trips to Barbados, Greece and Ireland, plus $884 in cancellation fees for a trip to China she never took.

New Brunswick Senator Krista Ann Ross billed taxpayers $19,082 for two international trips to Laos and Belgium.

“New Brunswick taxpayers are out $115,000 for senators’ trips abroad, including hundreds of dollars in cancellation fees for trips that never even happened,” Drover said. “These senators never face voters, so the least they can do is stop treating the public purse like a travel agency.”

New Brunswick senators billed taxpayers $115,337 for international travel between January 2023 and March 2026, according to the records.