OTTAWA, ON - Canada sent the second largest G20 delegation to an environmental conference in Madrid, more than double the size of the American delegation and more than seven times the size of the Australian delegation, according to the official list of attendees published by the United Nations.

Discussions were held in the Spanish capital in December for the 2019 United Nations Climate Change Conference.

The size of national delegations varied from country to country, with Canada’s 156-person group coming in second place among the G20 countries, just behind Brazil’s 158.

A total of 156 listed delegates put Canada ahead of countries such as Germany (100), the United States (71), Australia (21), and China (76).

“It’s not clear why Canada needs to send twice as many people to these summits as the U.S. and seven times as many as Australia,” said Aaron Wudrick, Federal Director for the Canadian Taxpayers Federation.

“Is this really necessary or just financially wasteful and environmentally irresponsible overkill?”

Canada also sent one of the biggest delegations to the Paris Accord conference in 2015 with 283 delegates. In that case, Canada’s delegation was twice the size of the American team and three times the size of the U.K. team, earning the Trudeau government a CTF Teddy Waste Award.

“In 2015, Canadian taxpayers shelled out big bucks to send delegates to the Paris conference, including $1 million for the federal delegation alone and $12,000 in meal expenses for three federal bureaucrats,” said Wudrick.

“In 2019, it doesn’t seem like the government learned its lesson because it sent another supersized delegation to COP25. If the Americans and Australians can get the job done with smaller delegations, why can’t Canada?”

The full price of the Madrid trip and the amount of carbon emissions produced by the Canadian delegation has not yet been disclosed.

However, according to WestJet’s emissions calculator, 156 flights from Ottawa to Madrid would produce 165 tonnes of emissions. For perspective, Statistics Canada reports Canadian households averaged 3.9 tonnes of emissions in 2017.

The full list of the Canadian delegation is available here.

According to Environment and Climate Change Canada, taxpayers covered the cost for the elected officials and bureaucrats as well as some non-government organizations, who are listed as part of the federal delegation.

“The Government of Canada also agreed to provide financial assistance for costs of travel and accommodations for a select group of participants on the Canadian delegation, including opposition Members of Parliament, and a small number of representatives of National Indigenous Organizations, youth delegates, and representatives of non-governmental organizations,” read a statement from the department.

“Many Canadians participated at COP25, including via other organizations and groups apart from the official Canadian delegation, and these Canadians would have been responsible for financing their own participation.”

While the department said travel and accommodations were managed in a “cost-effective” way, the total costs of the delegation will not be available until all delegates have submitted their travel expense claims.

The department has yet to explain what value the delegation members provided. When that response is received, this story will be updated.

The 2020 climate conference is set to be held in Glasgow.