Nova Scotia municipalities spend $600K on 2 conferences

It's an opportunity for elected officials from towns and counties to learn from their peers and lobby government.

But attendance at national conferences comes with a hefty price tag.

A CBC News investigation has learned that Nova Scotia municipalities spent more than $600,000 sending councillors, mayors and CAOs to two conferences in Vancouver and Niagara Falls.

• INTERACTIVE: How much did your municipality spend to go to conferences?

The meetings hosted by the Federation of Canadian Municipalities took place in spring of 2013 and 2014.

CBC News requested costs of the trips and other expenses claimed by municipal representatives under Freedom of Information legislation.

Hundreds of officials flocked to conferences

Our analysis found that more than 100 representatives travelled to Vancouver in May, 2013, with 120 making the trip to Niagara Falls the next year.

And the biggest spenders weren't necessarily the biggest communities.

Richmond County, with a population of less than 9,000, spent the most on the two conferences, followed closely by the Cape Breton Regional Municipality and the town of Amherst.

"I know it's a tough topic," said CBRM councillor George MacDonald, who went to both Vancouver and Niagara meetings.  

"We're strapped. We have a deficit, so it's an easy question to ask."

Learning and lobbying

But MacDonald said attending FCM meetings is "imperative," to learn how other communities are coping with similar challenges.

"When we were in Vancouver, we looked at Prince Rupert. They had problems and now have a booming port. So that's why we have to go."

Richmond County Deputy Warden Malcolm Beaton credits lobbying at FCM meetings for more than $4 million in funding the county has secured for a waste water management program.

"I've gone to FCMs where I've spent [time] sitting with ministers talking about projects that we're working on and how we can move them forward."   

Beaton said, in past years, Richmond was in good financial shape and could afford to send a number of delegates to the FCM, although he said money has been tighter in the last couple of years. Because of that, only one person is going to this year's FCM meeting later this week in Winnipeg.

Billy Joe MacLean says costs paid off

The largest individual bill for an FCM trip was paid on behalf of Port Hawkesbury Mayor Billy Joe Maclean.  His visit to Vancouver cost the municipality $4,747.  

MacLean said he doesn't know why his expenses are higher than others but "a lot of times they only have rooms at the central location and they would be more expensive."

However, the mayor said there's no question the FCM conferences are worth the investment and said the money he's accessed for the town as a direct result of the meetings far outweighs the costs of attending.

MacLean recalled one meeting where he learned about a green energy program, which allowed Port Hawkesbury to raise more than a million dollars in funding along with a low-interest loan.

The smallest municipality to attend an FCM conference was Mulgrave, with a population of just under 800 people. It sent one person to Niagara Falls. The municipality is now dissolving.

Oxford, with a population of just over 1,000, sent three people to Vancouver and two to Niagara Falls, while the Queens Regional Municipality, which has a population 10 times larger, sent no one.

Not in a position to go, says Queens mayor

Queens' Mayor Christopher Clarke said he's never been to an FCM meeting.

"I'm sure there is a benefit but I wouldn't be in a position to weigh the benefit against what could a be a pretty significant cost," he said.

"It's the taxpayers' money and we have to be very responsible how we spend it."

While FCM conferences are the most common reason for out of province travel, some municipal leaders crossed international borders.

In 2014, three elected officials and two staff from Colchester County went to India to learn about a process that converts garbage into energy. The county says the delegation was in India for just two days. It says the expedition cost $15,000.

Wolfville Mayor Jeff Cantwell claimed about $2,000 in expenses for a trip to an economic development conference in the south of France.

'Fish out of water'

The town won a contest for $5,000 towards airfare, registration and accommodation in Cannes. While Cantwell says it was a great opportunity, he also admits he was "a fish out of water.

"I was at a table having lunch with the mayors of Liverpool, England, Paris, Stockholm, Berlin, Munich, Hong Kong, all these huge metropolitan areas."

The municipality of Guysborough, with a population of about 4,000, also expensed some international travel.

In May 2014, Warden Vernon Pitts and CAO Barry Carroll went to Houston for an oil and gas conference.

Six months later, Pitts, Carroll and Councillor Blair George travelled to Alabama, to visit the headquarters of Vulcan. That company is in talks to build a massive granite quarry in Guysborough.