G8/G20 security costs could reach $900-million

Colin Freeze Globe and Mail Update Tuesday, May. 25, 2010

Security for the G8-G20 summits will cost taxpayers close to $1-billion. Supplementary estimates released by Parliament Tuesday indicate federal government will spend $654-million on security on top of the $179-million announced in March, for a total of $833-million. The total figure greatly exceeds some published media estimates of the overall costs. In fact, the government anticipates the final cost could exceed $900-million, meaning that the cost of providing security to world leaders meeting for a few days of meetings near Huntsville, and then Toronto, will cost as about as much as was believed to be spent for security during the two-week-long Vancouver Olympic Games.

The RCMP, which is deploying thousands of officers to the events, is to get the lion's share of the funding, followed by the Public Safety Department, followed by the Department of National Defence. "The scope and magnitude of the security operations associated with hosting the two summits back to back is unprecedented -- representing the largest deployment of security personnel for a major event in Canadian history," said Chris McCluskey, a spokesman for Public Safety Minister Vic Toews, in an email.