Tourism deputy rings up N.B. government's largest 2023 expense account

Luxury-hotel stays during an unpublicized trip to London and Paris and a personal move from Quispamsis to Fredericton helped deputy tourism minister Yennah Hurley, the former adviser to Premier Blaine Higgs, amass $77,710 in expenses in 2023.   

It's the largest amount claimed by a senior official in the New Brunswick government for the year, including the premier and cabinet ministers, according to online departmental expense reports.

New Brunswick releases information on expenses paid to ministers and senior government officials quarterly for travel, living expenses, car allowances, accommodations and other costs.  

It calls it an "effort to improve transparency, accountability and enhance the proactive disclosure of information."

In 2023, the largest amount claimed by an elected official for the calendar year was $52,522 by Higgs. That included $10,999 spent on a trip to Europe last May highlighted by Higgs's speech at the World Hydrogen Summit in the Netherlands.

Charges by the premier, however, were eclipsed by Hurley, whose expense claims ran nearly 50 per cent higher.

Hurley is a former small adventure business operator and travel blogger who has been New Brunswick's deputy minister of tourism since 2020.

She was hired in 2019 on a two-year consulting contract by Higgs to work in the Tourism Department and report directly to him on changes that might be made.

One change that came quickly was the firing of the previous deputy minister, Francoise Roy, a month after Hurley began work. Ten months later, Hurley had Roy's old job 

"I am proud that she is working with the people in the department," Higgs said in the legislature in 2019 in defending Hurley's initial hiring.

"I am proud that she is working with the minister because we are going to get things done by thinking differently. I am proud that she is part of the team."

In 2023, reports show, Hurley took several trips on government business both inside and outside Canada.

Expense reports contain little information on the purpose of trips, and Hurley was not made available for an interview.  However, her reports show $21,488 was spent on hotels in multiple locations, including Banff, Quebec City and North Carolina.

According to information provided by the province, the most expensive trip, an eight-day visit to Europe last September was an effort to boost international tourism interest in New Brunswick.