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A $10,000 buffet lunch for 200 people in Japan topped last year’s expense list for Alberta’s political staffers, ministers and senior bureaucrats.

In total, the top echelons of the government and public service spent $3.8 million on travel and hospitality in 2017, according to provincial expense disclosures.

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It’s a huge drop from just two years ago, when the same list topped $18.4 million.

In 2013, travel and hospitality expenses totalled $27.6 million. That year, the 20 most expensive items were all international flights, ranging from $10,190 to $19,224.

The latest total shaves $5 million off 2016 expenses.

The Canadian Taxpayers Federation doffed its hat to the government Wednesday. Colin Craig, the CTF interim Alberta director, said in an interview the savings are a “step in the right direction.”

Flights of (not so) fancy

Although airline travel made up a whack of travel expenses in 2017, the most expensive flight was a relatively modest $4,419. That ticket sent economic development and trade assistant deputy minister Matthew Machielse to a Nexon business mission and outreach meetings in Singapore and China.