A Commons committee is backing away from examining the spending of Gov. Gen. Adrienne Clarkson, who is in Russia on the first leg of a three-country trip that's provoking outrage among Members of Parliament.

Some opposition members who want Clarkson to justify the 19-day trip are accusing the ruling Liberals of blocking the scrutiny.

Canadian Alliance MP Paul Forseth said a closed-door discussion of a plan to call senior staff from the Governor General's office before the government operations and estimates committee led some Liberal MPs to change their minds.

"Some of the Liberals are getting chicken to deal with this issue," Forseth said.

"There are different ways of phrasing it as to what their inner motivations may be. The media splash over the weekend has caused some people to have different ideas," he added.

NDP MP Pat Martin said the Liberals stacked the committee room Monday in order to ensure the Governor General would not be examined.

"All the Liberals lined up to block it," he said.

Clarkson has used the media to answer charges by MPs the trip was too exorbitant. She said the government asks her to travel, just like her predecessors did, and taking prominent Canadians helps to raise the country's profile.

"We're not as well known as we should be so the benefit is an investment," she said.

Clarkson's press secretary, Stewart Wheeler, said from Moscow Monday the Governor General "is emboldened by the attention the visit has received because it gives her a chance to show Canadians how important this kind of visit is."

"The Governor General is proud to be here, proud of the delegation she's bringing. It's an important part of Canadian foreign relations," Wheeler said.

Forseth has vowed to raise the issue again, perhaps as early as next week.

"The spending of entities that are listed for our committee (will be looked at), and we will do that in an orderly way," he said.

"In the next little while I'll put it on the table again and I think we can get some support on that issue," Forseth said.

He added some MPs on the committee were concerned about the focus on the trip -- which he said is to be paid for by the Department of Foreign Affairs -- because it doesn't necessarily form part of Clarkson's $19-million budget.

Clarkson is leading a delegation of 59 prominent Canadians on the mission to Russia, Finland and Iceland. It's expected to cost close to $1 million.

"When the number $1 million comes up, Canadian taxpayers get their back up and rightly so," Canadian Alliance MP Ken Epp said last week.

CTV's Ellen Pinchuk, reporting from Moscow, said that whatever the controversy is in Canada, there was no evidence of it in Russia. "She was greeted as a head of state."

Clarkson was met by a Russian army honour guard and the national anthems of Canada and Russia were played.

During the 10-day visit to Russia, Clarkson is scheduled to meet with President Vladimir Putin and other officials in Moscow before heading to the former Russian imperial capital, St. Petersburg.

Clarkson's entourage includes writer-director Denys Arcand. His film, The Barbarian Invasions, was selected as Canada's entry in the race to be nominated in the Academy Awards best-foreign-film category.

Also in the group are writers Michael Ondaatje, Yann Martel and former Ontario premier Bob Rae.

With reports from CTV's Ellen Pinchuk and Canadian Press