Canada says spending nearly $1 billion on security for G-8 and G-20 summits is worth it

TORONTO – TORONTO (AP) — Canada's Conservative government said Thursday the nearly $1 billion it plans to spend on security at the G-8 and G-20 summits next month is worth it.

The Canadian government has budgeted up to $930 Canadian (US$885 million) for the summits. By comparison, the stated amount spent by Pittsburgh on security for last September's G-20 summit was US$12.4 million. London's stated amount for the G-20 last year was US$10.9 million.

Canadian officials could not account for the huge difference and the government has come under heavy criticism from opposition lawmakers over the huge cost.

"We are on track to host a safe and secure G-8 and G-20 summits, two separate summits back-to-back. Unprecedented. The cost is expensive but the security is worth it," Public Safety Minister Vic Toews said in Parliament.

Canada is hosting the Group of 20 economic summit June 26-27 in Toronto. The G-20 is the group of leading rich and developing nations. The Group of Eight — the group of leading industrial nations — summit is being held in Huntsville, Ontario, a day earlier.

The near $1 billion tab in Canada comes as the governments of the G-20 conference are expected to discuss getting their deficits and debt under control.

"If countries choose to undertake these summits those are the kinds of costs that they'll have to bare," Toews said. "I understand that this is a very expensive operation to run but my responsibility is to ensure that they are safe and secure."

Toews said they will break down all the costs after the summits.

"I have assessed the cost through our experts and our experts have looked at the cost and have indicated that this is the level of security necessary given the threats."

Toews said $450 million Canadian (US$429 million) will be spent on the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, a lot of it on overtime.

The mounted police declined to say how many officers will be deployed, but thousands are expected. A massive temporary accommodations facility is being built in Huntsville and officers will be housed in hotels in Toronto. The leaders of the G-8 will be flown by helicopter from Huntsville to Toronto for the start of the G-20.

Opposition New Democratic Leader Jack Layton called it a "billion-dollar boondoggle."

"Previous G-20 summits cost a mere fraction and they kept everybody safe," Layton said. "How can this government and these Conservatives justify spending 30 times more than London did just a year ago and have a meeting to talk about austerity?"

Canada's Conservative government had originally planned to host just the G-8 summit in Huntsville, the district of one of Harper's cabinet ministers. After it was announced in Pittsburgh that the G-20 would take over the role of the pre-eminent council on global economic cooperation, Canada started planning for two summits.

The government had planned on hosting both summits in Huntsville, but the G-20 venue was changed to Toronto, Canada's largest city, after concerns surfaced that the smaller town and surrounding area could not provide all the resources needed for such a huge event.

The costs of providing security in two locations is much greater. It is expected to be higher than the $900 million Canadian (US$864 million) the government estimated it spent on security during the 17-day Vancouver Olympic Games.

"The government is spending more than a billion taxpayers dollars on the most expensive 72 hours of meetings in history," opposition Liberal lawmaker Mark Holland said in Parliament.

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Associated Press writers Jennifer Yates in Pittsburgh and David Stringer in London contributed to this report.