The Canadian Taxpayers Federation is criticizing the amount of money two Nova Scotia government agencies spent on hospitality at an international golf event last year in Halifax.

Nova Scotia Business Inc. and Tourism Nova Scotia signed a two-year deal to sponsor the Nova Scotia Open — a tournament on the Web.com tour, the developmental system for the PGA.

According to documents the Canadian Taxpayers Federation obtained under the Access to Information Act, the province paid $300,000 for its sponsorship position.

Hospitality costs for government officials and their guests during the tournament in 2014 cost an additional $22,805.49, according to the documents.

"This is not really about whether the government should have sponsored or should not have sponsored," Kevin Lacey, the Atlantic director for the Canadian Taxpayers Federation, said in an interview with CBC News.

"What this is about is, why is it when something good happens — like this golf tournament coming to Nova Scotia — do our government officials use it as an opportunity to stuff themselves with free food and booze on the taxpayer dime?"

The federation says guests at the government's VIP tent consumed 336 bottles of water, pop, Gatorade and juice along with 137 bottles of beer, coolers and glasses of wine. The cost of food totalled about $14,750, they said.

'They don't need to spend to entertain themselves'

"The government is telling everybody, 'It's time for cutbacks and be prepared for higher taxes' and yet here we are with the government spending thousands of dollars they don't need to spend to entertain themselves on a golf course," Lacey said.

In a statement to CBC News, Tourism Nova Scotia said the golf event generated about $3.6 million in economic activity. It was broadcast live on NBC's Golf Channel to more than 191 countries and an audience of 3.8 million viewers.

The agency said money was also raised for the QEII Health Sciences Centre Foundation, Feed Nova Scotia and the Nova Scotia Sport Hall of Fame.

Meanwhile, a spokesperson for Nova Scotia Business Inc. said the Nova Scotia Open "presented a significant opportunity to promote Nova Scotia to an international business audience and make connections."

Nova Scotia Business Inc. said aside from the Golf Channel broadcast, advertising from the event was worth $834,000.

Web.com, which sponsors the entire junior golf tour, also hosted a small business summit that attracted 200 Nova Scotia businesses.

Despite claiming success, Nova Scotia Business Inc. changed its approach for the 2015 tournament. It offered no alcohol in its hospitality tent and reduced its catering costs by 50 per cent.