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OTTAWA — Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is under fire for bringing senior Liberal party operatives as well as his mother and inlaws to Washington in March, while leaving Natural Resources Minister Jim Carr at home.

The Liberal government has hailed Trudeau’s official visit to Washington, which included the first state dinner for a Canadian prime minister in nearly 20 years, as a huge step toward rebuilding and strengthening ties with the United States.

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The trip certainly made headlines as Trudeau and U.S. President Barack Obama cemented their relationship with warm smiles and friendly jibes over the Stanley Cup in the White House’s famed Rose Garden. It also resulted in a number of bilateral agreements that touched on climate change, trade and security.

But recent revelations about the size and cost of Trudeau’s delegation have raised questions about why certain people were taken to Washington and not others. According to documents tabled in the House of Commons, 44 people travelled with the prime minister, at a cost of about $25,000.