Government Files is The Canada Report's public-records analysis series examining government documents obtained through Canada's Access to Information (ATI) and provincial Freedom of Information (FOI) laws. These transparency laws allow members of the public to request internal government records from federal and provincial institutions. This article reviews documents released through those processes and summarizes what the records contain and what they show. While we strive for accuracy, this article represents an analysis and interpretation of the source material. For complete accuracy and full context, readers should review the original documents, which are available in full below.
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The state funeral for former prime minister Brian Mulroney cost $1,213,407.60, according to financial records released under the Access to Information Act — and that figure leaves out the single largest personnel expense. Staff overtime for the March 2024 ceremonies came to $283,731, an amount the department's own accounting explicitly excludes from the total. Add it back and the real bill approaches $1.5 million.
The records were released in response to a request covering January 1, 2024 to March 2, 2026, seeking all financial documents relating to the Mulroney funeral events held in Ottawa and Montréal in 2024. The package includes a line-item cost summary dated 24 March 2024 under cost centre 56816, along with raw transaction ledgers showing individual invoices, vendors and travel claims.
What the Documents Show
The largest single line in the summary is security. Commissionaires in Ottawa and Montréal billed $194,123.57 — more than any venue, artist or logistics item on the list. The ceremony at the Basilique Notre-Dame de Montréal follows at $176,453.07, with the lying-in-repose at Saint-Patrick's Basilica adding another $105,000.
Music was a substantial category in its own right. The Orchestre Symphonique de Montréal was paid $51,865.49. Individual performers were engaged separately: Marc Hervieux at $20,000, The Tenors at $18,500, Marie-Josée Lord at $13,000, Scott Price at $6,500 and Edith Dandenault at $1,800. Two photographers, named in the records as George Pimentel and Ryan Emberley, billed a combined $18,250. Piano rentals from Pianos Bolduc Montréal added $7,031.08, and a stage manager was retained for $9,517.50. Music copyrights and photo rights together accounted for a further $12,123.46.
The logistics tail is where the scale of the operation becomes clearest. Tent rental from Labelle tents came to $63,146. Bus rentals for arrival and departure shuttles cost $33,450, with a further $7,682.85 for the Montréal Port Authority shuttle staging area and $1,217.66 for parking at Quai de l'horloge in the Old Port. Flowers from Nathan Aubé and Aubé Studios totalled $43,454. Walkthrough metal detectors and servicing at Saint-Patrick's Basilica ran $8,400, outdoor screens $10,000, and a weather monitoring system $2,800.
One entry stands apart from the rest of the ledger: $35,000 paid for TVA coverage of the funeral ceremony. The records list it under miscellaneous costs and do not describe what the payment purchased beyond the phrase "TVA coverage." Separately, $5,130.14 went to the House of Commons and the Tribune de la Presse for coordinating attendance by the Canadian Parliamentary Press Gallery, itemised as travel costs and overtime for one named employee.
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What the Family Paid For
The records are specific about where the public purse stopped. Funerary services — obituary publication, limousines, burial services, hearse and the tombstone or monument — cost $69,815.12 through Hulse, Playfair, McGarry and Cimetière Notre-Dame. But the accompanying note records that the family paid for the casket and for repatriation of the remains from the United States.
The reception at the Musée des beaux-arts is treated the same way. The government paid $50,057.51 for venue rental and valet services, while a note states that a portion of the venue cost was covered by the family, who also paid for the reception food and drinks. Government-funded hospitality was comparatively modest: $9,126.74 for a caterer and snacks, and $3,945.80 for House of Commons catering in the family room during the lying-in-state, plus lunch boxes for staff.
The lying-in-state at Parliament carried no venue charge at all. The records note the House of Commons made the Sir John A. Macdonald Building available at no cost.
The Overtime Line the Total Leaves Out
The most consequential accounting decision in the document is a footnote. Against the $1,213,407.60 total, the summary carries an asterisk reading "does not include staff overtime." The overtime line immediately above it — $283,731, described as covering claims taken in cash — is marked "not included in total budget sum." A separate page in the release restates the figure on its own, as though the number had been broken out for the requester.
Counted together, the funeral cost $1,497,138.60. Overtime alone represents roughly 19 per cent of that combined figure, and exceeds every other line in the release except security and the Notre-Dame ceremony. The records do not explain the rationale for excluding it, how many employees claimed it, or which departments they worked for.
Inside the Transaction Ledger
Beyond the one-page summary, the release includes several pages of raw SAP-style transaction data covering cost centre 56816. These show the funeral at invoice level: purchases at Michaels, Dollarama, Walmart and Costco Wholesale coded to stationery, cleaning and paper supplies; a Reitmans charge; medal mounting; portrait easels; anti-fatigue mats; a roll of black cloth. The miscellaneous supplies line captures these at $3,165.89 in aggregate.
The travel ledger is the longest section by volume, running to hundreds of individual claims for rail, hotel and per-diem expenses between Ottawa and Montréal in March 2024, at $55,689.38 in total. Individual entries show VIA Rail bookings, hotel claims, and low-value and medium-value claim fees. Later pages document credits and reversals posted in April and May 2024 as invoices were reconciled — a $176,453.07 credit against the Notre-Dame venue, a $146,321.62 charge to the parish, and journal-voucher adjustments moving copyright and music licensing costs between accounts.
Interdepartmental memoranda of understanding account for another $128,383.61. Public Services and Procurement Canada billed $90,021 for delivery, installation and removal of barricades, ropes and stanchions, red carpet, easels, pipe and drape, a tent and media risers at the Sir John A. Macdonald Building in Ottawa and at both Montréal basilicas. The City of Ottawa charged $33,232.47 for paramedic, road and traffic services on March 19 and 20.
What's Missing from the Records
The release covers one cost centre. It does not include whatever the RCMP, the Canadian Armed Forces, Global Affairs Canada or the Privy Council Office spent on the same events — policing, the honour guard, military band participation, aircraft, or diplomatic logistics for visiting dignitaries. The security line in this document is contractor commissionaires, not federal police.
The records also contain no policy context. There is no comparison to previous state funerals, no budget approved in advance, and no explanation of why particular vendors were selected. The $35,000 TVA payment is itemised but not described. The overtime figure is stated but not broken down. And while the request window ran to March 2026, the substantive financial activity in the release ends in mid-2024, indicating the file was closed well before the request was made.
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Support Government FilesAll figures referenced are from records released under request A-2025-00353, obtained through an Access to Information request covering January 1, 2024 to March 2, 2026. The records comprise a line-item cost summary for cost centre 56816 dated 24 March 2024 and supporting transaction ledgers for the state funeral of the Right Honourable Brian Mulroney, held in Ottawa and Montréal in March 2024.
