B.C.Cabinet Minister Colin Hansen who is responsible for the 2010 Winter Olympics assured us in July, 2006 there will be no cost overruns for security during the "Mega Event". Adding to his financial assessment was the fact that Athens and Turin, although spent more on security, used their budgets to build new police stations and upgrade equipment. 

He assured us this would not be the case in Vancouver, so the $175 million budgeted for "Security" would be enough. This figure was determined after round table discussions with delegates from future and potential host cities.

So what happened? The latest figures for the Olympics' security budget is $900 million and climbing. How could there be such a huge shortfall. Back In the fall of 2001, Government of Canada departments and agencies began working with the Department of Canadian Heritage and the Vancouver 2010 Bid Corporation to determine preliminary cost estimates for security and policing at the 2010 Games. 

Strategic planning for security began immediately following the July 2003 announcement that Canada would host the 2010 Olympic and Paralympics Winter Games. These efforts were led by the RCMP Integrated Security Unit.
 

British Columbia's financial commitment to the Olympic Games and Paralympics Games Security was sealed with the signing of the Memorandum of Agreement (MOA) in December 2006. This agreement outlined the roles, obligations and responsibilities of British Columbia, Canada, the RCMP and the joint BC/Canada Security Committee.

Granted the MOA clearly contemplated the possibility that security costs would be in excess of the initial bid budget, as the development of a comprehensive security plan moved forward. After careful review in February 2008 by the Budget Review Sub-Committee, a detailed audit of the revised security costs surfaced. Hence the new revised cost share agreement between the Federal and Provincial government surfaced on February 19,2009.

My issue is not with the current budget. As a matter of fact I feel the figures are very realistic considering the fact Vancouver is a port city who rubs shoulders with the United States. My concern is the total amount calculated from the cost estimates of 2001 and the strategic planning in 2003 added up to a five year miscalculation of $725 million dollars in July 2006.

This is a highly visible national security event with possibilities of terrorists and assassins. So how could these strategic planners overlook this by submitting a vastly underfunded security budget? Maybe the Olympic planners need to realize that a budget represents the forecast of revenues and expenditures associated with organizing and staging such an event.

Here we are almost 8 years after preliminary security cost estimates began looking at a provincial bill of $252.5 million to secure the 2010 Winter games. The federal government will pay the remaining $647.5 million and assume the remaining costs and any unforeseen costs in the development and delivery of security operations for the Games.

Maybe we would have been better off if PyeongChang had won the coin toss so we could invest the $252.5 million into the policing of our own communities in British Columbia.

Image Courtesy of WikiPedia - The Olympic Flag outside the Vancouver City Hall.

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