Honestly. What’s the point of it all?
A two-day G20 summit in Toronto in June is expected to cost the federal government $150 million. How or why? Good questions.
Since the security budget for the Olympics is expected to exceed $1 billion for 16 days, it’s confusing to figure out how a 2 day event will run $150 million.
At a certain point, these summits just don’t make any sense anymore. Is there anything more ironic, more blatantly stupid, more frustratingly obviously futile, than spending $150 million to talk about ways to stimulate economic recovery, grow markets, and reduce deficits? Well here’s a tip. Maybe not spending $150 million on a G20 photo-op might be one way to cut the deficit. Just maybe.
According to the media report:
$15 million will pay for two-way radios for police, though half of that tab will be covered by the City of Toronto. The cost of a Motorola handheld radio is between $3,873 and $4,335 each. So using the higher cost estimate, that’s 3,460 brand new police radios. I can’t imagine they’re starting at a number of zero for their radio stockpile. The entire RCMP police Integrated Security Unit contingent for the Vancouver games was 16,000.
Meanwhile $700,000 is set aside for limousines and shuttles for the finance ministers and central bank governors, as well as the international media. Did you get that? Almost a million dollars to get people from an airport to a meeting. And this is one of the more reasonable numbers.
What’s even more amusing, I suppose, is that the $150,000,000 will presumably be spent to keep disgruntled hippies from tearing down the barricades and rushing the G20 ministers with banana cream pies. It would be cheaper, actually, to just give each of the demonstrators who will show up a cheque for $1,000 to go away. Security for the 2009 London Summit only cost $12-million, so why the markup of 1,000%?
I don’t see Stephen Harper in that photo. Was he in the bathroom eating babies?
A decent motorola two way radio with say 5 channels and decent range including lapel mic/speaker will run about $1300-$1600 CDN
Nonetheless. Ridiculous.
ROTFL! I noticed that after I posted it. By the way, you could give the protesters $4,000 and still be ahead. But I thought $1,000 was a more reasonable bribe.
Laker,
Ok, I just did a little more research. Turns out that civilian radios and police radios are a little different. Civilian radios can cost $89-199.
So, according to my research police radios cost $3,873-$4,335. So let’s do the math.
15 million on the high-end phones gives you 3,460 brand new police radios.
If these meetings weren’t about ‘photo ops’ they would have them in remote locations that would be easy to secure, not Toronto.
Stupid.
What happens to the radios after the event, wont they be kept by the police. Is this just a sneaky way to get those radios for police.
Someone with great photoshop skills could get all these guys/gals into one photo, while they do a conference call or video call.
Doing the sums:
Divide 1 billion by 16 and multiply by 2 and you get 125 million.
Add to the mix that you have world leaders attending the G20 summit and that some of them might be involved in issues that could make them serious targets for terrorists and it seems that 150 million might not be that high a price to preserve our national dignity, or what is left of it now. I doubt if those who oppose the G20 would stop at launching a newspaper dispenser through the window of the Bay department shop.
Then look at the cost of prorogation which even the national post puts at around 130 million and I have got to ask who is wasting money?
I hear IBM is using some video game for teleconferencing most of it’s meetings.
G-20 already surreal.
Why not take it to the next level.
I’ll gladly accept $1,000 to not visit Toronto during the G20.
For $2,000 I’ll stay away permanently.
Just switch the meeting to Churchill in polar bear season. Instant security at a fraction of the price.
It’s not like the money is burnt on site. It’s going into the Canadian economy. Take the amount Government spends per day with the stimulus plan and you’ll see that it’s not that outrageous. Canadian manufacturers make money, security personnel make money, the limousine companies, hotels etc. Same as how the Olympics helps the local economy so does this. So don’t make it sound like it’s money that could be better spent helping the economy when that’s what it’s doing.
It’s not like the money is burnt on site.
Sure it is. What do you mean it goes into the Canadian economy? By your reasoning we could raise the wages of every civil servant by 10% and increase 10% of the money going into the Canadian economy.
That’s not logical.