Feds must disclose Olympic security budget to BC

For Immediate Release
February 12, 2009

With the countdown on, Harper government must disclose Olympic security budget to British Columbia

OTTAWA – Official Opposition Critic for Amateur Sport, Health Promotion and the Vancouver Olympics Dr. Keith Martin called on the federal government today to release its security budget for the 2010 Olympics in Vancouver.

“Now that we are in the countdown to the Games and the federal government has tabled Budget 2009, it should be making the figures it has earmarked for security for the Olympics available to the province so that they can plan for their own security spending, ” said Dr. Martin. “There is no reason that it should be taking so long to get those numbers.”

Under the current arrangement, the federal government is responsible for covering the costs of security at the Vancouver International Airport and at the border, and for international VIPs. The provincial government will, in turn, split the costs of securing Olympic venues and Olympians 50/50 with the federal government.

“I am concerned that the federal government is avoiding making the announcement because the projected cost for security now far exceeds what was originally projected. The government simply needs to come clean on the cost, and give the province the information it needs,” said Dr. Martin.

“I am also concerned that the government is avoiding the issue because of its decision to tear up the wage agreement with the RCMP, which is making the force’s manpower needs more dire. The government knows that despite this broken promise, they will be asking for a very large commitment from the RCMP and its officers, who are overstretched as it is,” he said.

The BC government is expected to table its budget next week, on February 17th, whether or not they have the federal numbers.

“I am asking the government to do the right thing, and give the province the numbers it needs to properly plan for this national event. It’s time the federal government stopped hiding,” said Dr. Martin.

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Feds must disclose Olympic security budget to BC

This entry was posted on Thursday, February 12th, 2009 at 3:06 pm and is filed under Amateur Sport and 2010 Olympics, Parliament. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.