YELLOWKNIFE - A few hours after Kevin Kennedy left a city council meeting two weeks ago, he got on a bus.
Three days later, he was still on it.
Kennedy, four other councillors and the mayor joined 2,200 delegates in Quebec City for the annual Federation of Canadian Municipalities (FCM) conference, which ran from May 29 to June 2.
While Mayor Gord Van Tighem, Coun. Lydia Bardak, Coun. Bob Brooks, Coun. David McCann and Coun. Shelagh Montgomery flew to the gathering of municipal, provincial and federal leaders, Kennedy opted to save fuel by boarding a bus, as he did on the way to last year's conference in Calgary.
He arrived 86 hours - almost four days - later, in time for the beginning of the conference. On Wednesday afternoon, two days after the conference ended, he was still buckled in for the ride home - a $600 round trip.
"There were no breaks longer than one hour for the whole route, so I slept on the bus," he wrote in an e-mail to Yellowknifer.
"I was surprised how well it went. I had so much time to read and enjoy the view that I almost wished it were longer."
In February, council budgeted $27,325 for six council members to go to the conference, but because only five councillors attended, Mayor Van Tighem predicted the city would come in "significantly under budget" when councillors submit their expense reports by next month.
At the conference, Van Tighem, who sits on the FCM board, represented the NWT Association of Communities and was re-elected as chair of the Northern Communities Forum.
"My job is primarily lobbying the federal government for more money," he said Wednesday.
He focused on pushing federal leaders to give Northern communities more infrastructure funding through the Building Canada Plan, which he said Yellowknife could use for the Kam Lake bypass road project.
While the mayor used the conference to focus on territorial concerns, he said it was the only opportunity for representatives from 90 per cent of municipalities in Canada to get together and compare notes.
"It's the only in-service training that gets provided to councillors," he said.
Coun. Brooks said his 14th time attending the conference was "very productive" for him. He was on a fact-finding mission to learn how Yellowknife can cut costs and save energy for its proposed new fieldhouse by following other cities' examples.
"At the trade show I was able to talk to architects and contractors who build recreational facilities," he said. "I know how to target the areas that I want to go find."
He's already held a fieldhouse committee meeting to introduce ideas such as using LED lights to save on electricity.
Brooks said he was disappointed that although federal Liberal leader Stephane Dion and NDP leader Jack Layton attended the conference, Prime Minister Stephen Harper was absent.
"It seems to me that it would be wise for all of the political parties to be there to see what concerns the municipalities may have."
Councillors who attended the conference are expected to soon present their travel reports to the city.
