ShareThisBy ROBERT MATAS
Toronto Globe and Mail
Friday, July 27, 2007
An internal Canadian police report has identified numerous "gaps" in the budget for security at the 2010 Vancouver Olympics.
The Vancouver bid in 2002 was based on a projected security cost of $175 million. Spokesmen for the Olympics and the Royal Canadian Mounted Police have defended the estimate for years, despite outspoken remarks from critics who felt the budget was too low. But the RCMP has now acknowledged that a lengthy list of essential items for security was left out of the calculations and the Mounties may ask for more money.
The list ranges from the cost of security for the Olympic torch as it travels around the world -- from Greece to Vancouver -- to the cost of equipment and personnel for security at the athletes villages in Vancouver and Whistler.
In one of the more glaring miscalculations, Vancouver's bid for the Games identified 21 venues requiring security, but, since winning the bid, the Olympic organizing committee has added a further 81 sites.
The omissions were outlined in a report prepared in September, 2005, by officers from the RCMP and the police departments of Vancouver and West Vancouver in a group called the Integrated Security Unit. The RCMP released the report earlier this week.
The officers state in the report that a comprehensive review of security costs has not yet been completed, but they anticipate the cost of security at the Olympics will exceed $175-million "by a significant amount."
RCMP spokesman Pierre LeMaitre echoed their words Thursday. The RCMP are trying to work within the budget but are also considering whether $175-million will be enough, he said.
The $175-million estimate was based on work for the Olympics bid committee by a retired RCMP officer and a retired police department member, Sgt. LeMaitre said. "When more information came, about the size of the Games and the increase in venues, that's when we could see it was going to end up being more than likely more than $175 million," he said.
The RCMP are now required to provide security for five times as many sites as was initially estimated, he said. "Common sense dictates that there's obviously going to be a difference in cost," Sgt. LeMaitre said, adding that he did not know what the final figure would be.
The so-called gap report was a working document, he added. The integrated security unit is still working on the costs and has not made an official request for more funds. No deadline has been set for a final estimate of the costs, Sgt. LeMaitre said.
Colin Hansen, the B.C. cabinet minister responsible for the Olympics, said a lot of work has been done in the past two years to figure out which budget will pay for the various elements of security.
The budget of $175-million, which was accepted for a cost-sharing memorandum between the federal and provincial governments, was always intended to cover only part of the cost, Hansen said. He listed the areas of security at the venues, protection of the athletes and protection of those working at the Olympics.
The federal government covers the entire cost of security related to terrorism threats, security for dignitaries and border security, he said. Municipal police will be responsible for costs related to policing city streets during the Games.
"We still have (more discussions) to do with RCMP," Hansen said. "They will set out all things they need to be funded and we go through that, with due diligence, to determine whether it is absolutely necessary," he said. If the costs are essential, then they will next discuss who should pay for them, he added.
The provincial government has a contingency fund of $76 million that has not yet been allocated within the Olympic budget, Hansen said. An increase in the provincial share could come from the contingency fund.
RCMP Sergeant Wilf Jephsen, a spokesman for staff relations, said accommodations, equipment and safety training are at issue. "There aren't enough accommodations," he said, adding that it looks as if it's "physically impossible" for all members who would be policing Whistler to have accommodations in the ski village. "I'm not sure who made the plan five years ago. But there are a lot of factors that are more involved now.''
British Columbia NDP critic Harry Bains accused the provincial government of deliberately ignoring the need to reassess security arrangements.
"For two years, it has been crystal clear that the $175-million Olympics security budget was an irresponsible underestimation," Bains stated in a news release. "Despite ample evidence and repeated warnings about the 2010 security shortfalls, the Campbell government has refused to listen or learn."
