CBC: cost to protect Canadian PM reached highest level in past two decades
Ensuring the safety of Canadian Prime Minister, Justin Trudeau, and his family cost at least 32.5m Canadian Dollars (about $23.5m) in the past fiscal year, which was a record for the last 20 years, TASS reports with reference to the CBC TV channel
According to CBC, this amount includes the costs of protecting the Head of State and his close relatives by employees of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police. The Prime Minister's security is also provided by other services and departments, but the channel does not provide information about their expenses.
Along with this, it is reported that, in the 2003-2004 fiscal year, 10.4 million Canadian Dollars ($7.5m) were spent on the Prime Minister's security, which is comparable to today's 15.9m ($11.5m), adjusted for inflation over the past 19 years. The greatest growth over that time was registered in 2006-2016, when Stephen Harper held the position of Prime Minister. During the spread of coronavirus infection, the cost of protecting the Head of State sharply decreased. The current record is due to the resumption of political activity and an increase in the number of trips of the Prime Minister in the last two years.
Corporal Kim Chamberland, from Royal Canadian Mounted Police, said that security costs related to the protection of top officials ‘depend on many different factors’, “These include domestic and global threat risk, the number of people travelling, the level of activity, the number of locations attended, type and number of political obligations, as well as technological advancements, and elements dictated by economic factors such as cost of travel, accommodations and fuel.”
