Security for world leaders

Torstar News Services reports:

'The cost of securing next month’s G8 and G20 summits has soared to at least $833 million – an eye-popping sum that has some wondering whether it’s time to rethink how international summits are organized.

The federal government on Tuesday revealed it had set aside an extra $654 million, on top of the $179 million already earmarked, to provide security for the G8 summit in Huntsville and the G20 summit in Toronto.

Liberal MP Mark Holland said it’s important to ensure the world leaders are well-protected when they gather in Ontario but called the escalating costs “insane.”

“It’s an outrageous amount of money and it just can’t be justified in this fiscal climate,” said Holland, the party’s critic for public safety and national security.

“For 48 hours, a billion dollars. We have too many other priorities on the table. There’s got to be other ways of doing this to get the same results,” said Holland.

Ironically, a key topic on the agenda when G20 leaders meet will be government deficits and the need to get spending under control.

NDP Leader Jack Layton said safety has to be “paramount” but added that local taxpayers should not be on the hook for any of the costs.

“The municipality must not be shouldered with these kinds of costs because that could brutalize the Toronto taxpayer,” Layton said.'

What do you think? Is the exposure Canada gets for hosting the two summits worth the skyrocketing cost?

Comments

[GIVE ME LIBERTY]

Ooops... I just realized I had posted a comment talking about "Philadelphia and London" when the last summit was actually held in Pittsburgh. Sorry for the inaccuracy. I think it's sadly ironic that military police thugs were destroying people's middle ear with sonic weapons on Liberty Ave. of all places... In the very state which actually birthed the constitution. Jefferson s rolling over in his grave. It is clearly stated in the Posse Comintatus Act that the military may never be used against an American citizen unless martial law has been declared. The globalists have found a way around this by militarizing the police forces of North America. Even scarier than the LRAD is another similar invention. It is also mounted atop a military vehicle and instead of emitting a sonic assault, this device actually burns 1/64 of your body using advanced microwave technology from far distances. Both of these devices aren't made to hurt people, the goal is to make you submit like a rat in some demented lab experiment. I hear stories in the states about little kids having to scan their fingerprints in order to take out library books. Stories of lawmakers wanting to abolish health insurance documents in favour of biometric technologies like a microchip which is imbedded in your body. This is all done to force us to become slaves in compact cities. China is the model for what they want to achieve. A complete destruction of our free-thought and creation of a class of slaves. BOTTOM LINE IS THAT PROVOCATEURS ARE USED AT THESE PROTESTS. SO ALL THE "THIS IS NECESSARY" COMMENTS ARE BASED ON THE LIE THAT VIOLENT "ANARCHISTS" ARE TAKING OVER. George Bush is no Thomas Jefferson and Obama is a Kenyan born CIA agent. This whole notion of the American dream is being destroyed at the very top.

[GIVE ME LIBERTY]

To everyone scratching their heads wondering why our puppet PM would choose Toronto.... He didn't. He takes his orders from the shadow government. Having a lock-down in Toronto is more important that the actual summit because it conditions us to accept a security grid police state. My heart goes out to the taxpayers living in downtown Toronto who will have to show their identification and papers in order to access their homes. This is a vision of things to come. By the way, that bank firebombing was totally the work of CSIS or some other bogus "anarchist" group run by law-enforcement.How could this supposed anarchist group use the internet to take responsibility for something as intense as a firebombing, but the police have yet to catch them and MSM just forgets to question why. It's a hoax. I am an anarchist and I've gotta say, these supposed anarchists manifesto sounds a lot like communism (just another corrupt system of government that true anarchists despise). Conveniently, most of the lefty protest groups share ideals with these untouchable "anarchists".

[GIVE ME LIBERTY]

The costs are so high because city's like London and Philadelphia are so far along in the New World Order's security grid. This is our entry into the club in many ways. The LRAD like the airport body scanners come with a high price. I consider myself a conservative and I want to say to the others here who think this is rational that you are absolute idiots.

Yes lefty protesters are annoying and their demands are often ridiculous. However, these violent "anarchist" types we've been taught to fear look undeniably like the work of agent provocateurs who are on the security payroll. If you think I'm just a crazy conspiracy loon, take a look at the Montebello summit in Quebec where QPP admit to using fake violent protesters in an attempt to stop CUPE's protests. That's right, they intended to turn the tear gas and batons on peaceful elderly folks.

None of this would've been possible without 9/11. First the boogeymen where militants living in caves in Afghanistan. Now, the terrorists are us... Anyone who wishes to speak dissent against the New World Order's horrific agenda must be a terrorist or anarchist.

Leftists, please get some sense about yourself and realize that Obama, the NDP, or the Liberals do not have any power to save you from this and in fact, all would be converted to the side of evil for a certain price. Don't go to protest at this summit because your peaceful misguided posters will be trampled in a pool of blood by violent criminal thugs who don't even wear badges to identify themselves. Welcome to the technologically advanced Nazi Germany I was warning you about for so many years in these forums.

[ED2]

I wonder how many Friends and Family, or Favours Owed and Hidden Social Programs (not for the poor) will be humped into this budget that we cannot access to see who was paid. My bet is that former BreEX, Arthur-Anderson, Nortel, Bell Canada, Goldman-Sachs, Sponsorsip and eHealth Scandal types, will be in the Administration of this and most likely a cronie Firm of Mulroneys friends will run the accounting.

Sorry folks, but that's the way we have to think now because if a scandal arises the courts will state; "We did not prosecute because there is no reasonable chance of a conviction", which seems to be the current political buzz-phrase.

[steve watson]

Well, at least Harpo won't lose any votes from Torontonians.Given he doesn't get any anyway. And that's the point of the exercise. A big F U, T.O.!!

[Michelle Hruschka]

I wonder how much one of those sound sonic weapons cost, since toronto just purchased four of them.

I remember when watching the movie The Corporation, where in one part of the movie they showed all those elite types looking down at the city, meanwhile eating the best food, drinking champagne.

Sort of an oxymoron, really, when those at the top of society create policy, that affects so amny across that globe, that is a detriment to all people, that they would need protecting and all that security.

Gulf of Mexico
11 workers killed

29 miners die, no health and safety

How many people die due to the endless war machine

[Realistic]

Actually peters numbers are pretty good. Yes those people would be getting paid anyway so there is little incramental cost due to labour it just got moved to another project. You don't save a billion dollars by cancelling the summit. It just falls under another budget. The figure $1B sells papers. Also a lot of the costs are on capital like buying security camers and installing them all over the city then removing them after because civil liberty people get offended. THATS A WASTE OF MONEY.

[Kathy Hagan]

Yes I think the summit should be hosted in Canada but not in areas that impact citizens. Hold it a secure but beautiful area { Canada has many] I read that some folk in Huntsville will be restricted getting in and out of their residences. Most of the center of Toronto will be closed including the CN Tower too bad if Great Uncle Walt is arriving that day to scale "the great Tower" he will be out of luck.
As for the cost we all know how these folk spend our money and we should not be surprised.

[John McPublic]

Sorry Peter Michael, but your numbers don't add up. These security officers and police would be getting paid anyway, so there is absolutely zero money coming back into the coffers. This waste of a billion dollars is so Steven Harper can have his picture taken. Period.

[Realistic]

so what is the question. We should be a member but never host and letthe other members foot the bill because it costs too much to be a member? I look at the news lately, Korea on the brink of war, Some idiots blow up bank. terrorism way up and getting more successful after years of realitive inactivity and protestors winding up over oil spills in the gulf and corporate greed. Wonder why costs are escalating?

[Gene Simmons]

LMFAO, Ace. Peter and Paul should be along shortly...

[steve sheen]

I for one am glad we can participate.Stand Up Canada!!!! Rock On

[Superman]

I offered to host it for free at my giant, secret crystal fortress somewhere near the North Pole but Harper wouldn't have it

[Ace Frehley]

This one time (actually a few entire decades), I got so loaded, I forgot all my guitar parts, but you know what, I still supported my G8 leaders and wanted to host them in my awesome country.

[Gene Simmons]

LMFAO, Skip.

[Peter Michael]

"how do we come up with numbers approaching a billion?"

Peter, that's the way the media spins it. It makes better headlines and controversy. Funny there's no mention of how that money will stimulate the economy but that's not important.

Thanks for bringing things to perspective for everyone.

[Skip]

I'm with the god of thunder on this one.
Teleconference.
A billion dollars to protect those who are ruinng the entire world. How many are members of the Bilderberg Group?
Easy with the orgy talk Gene, remember that video that shows your little...........

[JOHN CHUCKMAN, TORONTO]

An immense waste of money, thanks to Harper's insistence on holding part of the events in central Toronto.

The city originally did not even want it.

We need a venue, just as the UN has one, for G8 and G20 meetings.

It should be in a secure place where the immense cost of new security does not have to repeated over and over.

Spending a billion dollars on a couple of days is pretty close to a definitioon of insanity.

[Tim]

I think they probably need to create a single location that is specifically set up to host these type of events - such as has been done with United Nations Headquarters, NATO etc.

Or secondly host these events in smaller commuities where the influx of cash and opportunities for development may be a plus, rather than something that stifles the city, ie maybe London Ontario etc.(The smaller meeting in Huntsville is on the right path, but interferes with summer, so negates the benefits).

[Gene Simmons]

That's exactly what the tabloids were saying about my last orgy, Tom.

[Peter Swire CMA]

As an accredited accountant, we are often trained to quickly estimate a result before the spreadsheets and calculators grind out the true values.

My radar has gone off on the estimates so I tried to ascertain why.

Consider this for a moment...

If a typical plainclothes undercover officer, a uniformed constable or an armed soldier earn $ 50 per hour, and assuming that we cannot find a single one in the Muskokas or the GTA to work this gig on regular hours, the overtime rate is $ 75 per hour.

If we assume that we need 10,000 people to protect the group of world leaders, 24 hours per day for set up time (a week on site), for the event and post clean up say two weeks, that totals 3,360,000 hours.

At $ 75 per hour, the total manpower cost is $ 252 million.

Through the Income Tax, Ottawa and the provinces will recover a third or $ 84 million. The net take home is about $ 168 million.

Now, I suspect like most consumers that they will spend eveny penny. Assuming a multiple of 3 times as it works its way through the economy, that works out to an economic stimulus of $ 500 million on which the HST will recover approximately $ 65 million.

The net cost to Canada for the manpower is approximately $ 103 million.

I suspect the pre-screening of visitors to Canada and various security issues could be done during normal office hours. Training could be done before hand with a modest cost through rescheduling holidays. The big unknown is the cost for physical asset purchases such as cameras and barracades.

If we say the net cost is close to $ 150 million, then, how do we come up with numbers approaching a billion?

[Gene Simmons]

Totally ridiculous. Hasn't anyone heard of teleconferencing?? Nifty invention.

"No, Prime Minister Aso, the other 7 countries don't agree with that proposal, that's just stup...oops, we just lost Japan. I must have cut him off again, I keep thinking that's the volume button..."

[Tom Robertson]

If you are going to participate you have to take your turn hosting.

[Peter Michael]

What do I think? I think I've got to get into the security game. There's obviously lots of money to be made!