Canadian Official Apologizes for Conference Hotel Bill

While the scandal involving a $820,000 General Services Administration conference continues to generate headlines and scoldings in the United States, this week  in Canada the media and government have been focusing their energy on a much smaller conference-related scandal—about $818,000 smaller, to be exact. The Canadian government’s International Cooperation Minister Bev Oda today apologized in the House of Commons for a $1,995 hotel bill she racked up during a conference in London last year. Rather than staying at Grange St. Paul’s Hotel, where the conference was taking place, Oda had her staff cancel her reservation and re-book her at the more expensive Savoy hotel. Oda has agreed to pay back $1,353.81, representing the difference in cost between the two hotels, a cancelation fee and a $16 orange juice she ordered from room service. Opposition members of parliament, however, insist that Oda should also repay the $1,000 per day she spent on a car and driver to take her to the conference site. cbc.ca