Alberta’s cabinet ministers and political staff spent significantly more on airfare, hotels and other travel costs last year compared to 2023, according to an analysis of government expense disclosures.
The IJF analyzed over 60,000 expense claims from the previous two fiscal years. In 2024-25, Alberta government ministries spent $4.41 million on travel and hospitality, a 28 per cent increase over the $3.45 million expensed in 2023-24.
Nearly 40 per cent of this increase comes from trips taken by cabinet ministers, top ministerial bureaucrats and their office staff. Ministerial office expenses related to travel totalled $1.84 million last year, up about $362,000 from 2023-24.
Cabinet ministers alone racked up over $500,000 in travel expenses in 2024-25, 1.5 times more than the previous year. The highest spending members of cabinet include former minister of jobs, economy and trade Matt Jones, his successor Joseph Schow, Minister of Affordability and Utilities Nathan Neudorf and Premier Danielle Smith.
The Alberta government’s delegation to COP29 in Baku, Azerbaijan, was the single costliest international trip last year. Minister of Environment and Protected Areas Rebecca Schulz and five staff spent over $90,000 to attend the United Nations Climate Change Conference in November 2024, including $58,535 for hotel accommodations.
Other big-ticket items billed to taxpayers include $12,924 in airfare for Minister of Energy and Minerals Brian Jean’s trip to the Japan Energy Summit and Exhibition and $10,925 for the premier’s chief of staff Rob Anderson’s flights to the United Arab Emirates.
Smith's press secretary Sam Blackett told the IJF that travel is important for promoting Alberta's interests and building relationships.
“It also allows our government to engage with business leaders, investors and organizations, showcasing the province as an attractive place for investment, trade, and economic development,” Blackett said.
“On top of the ongoing trade dispute with the United States, we have a hostile federal government that does not align or support our provincial priorities. That’s why it is more important now than ever that we are directly advocating for Alberta’s interests.”
University of Calgary political scientist Lisa Young said that with 2023 being an election year, “politicians were very much staying close to home. They probably didn't want to be seen to be swanning around on the public dollar to the same extent.
“In 2024, we're far away from an election. And on top of that, you've got some fairly exceptional things going on internationally that might have driven at least some of the travel.”
In the context of tariff threats and changing international trade relationships, the jump in travel spending by the premier’s office and executive council or the trade ministry “makes perfect sense,” Young said.
Smith’s brief visit to Mar-a-Lago in January to meet with then president-elect Donald Trump reportedly cost taxpayers more than $10,000. The premier’s mission to Washington, D.C., for Trump’s inauguration eight days later, which included Smith and three other staff, came with a price tag of at least $15,800, according to public expense disclosures.
There were 17 government ministries with travel expenditure increases of 25 per cent or more in 2024-25 compared to the previous year. While the increase in travel spending from the premier’s office and the Ministry of Jobs, Economy and Trade were higher than most other departments, the largest year-over-year increase by dollar value, about $120,000, was reported by the Ministry of Health.
“The health spending actually is a bit of a head scratcher for me. I can't think of a particular reason why they would need to spend more money on travel in the health portfolio,” Young said. “It's a very domestic kind of portfolio, and there's certainly lots going on here that you would think the minister and the minister's staff would be focused on.”
