OGGO Committee Report

This supplementary report put forward by the conservative members of the standing committee on government operations and estimates intends to reflect the strong positive feedback from testimony heard throughout the course of the study on the effectiveness of the expenses for the G8 and G20 summits.

It is important to note that the magnitude of organizing these summits was unprecedented and demonstrated to be a unique challenge.

RCMP Chief Superintendent Alphonse MacNeil said the following during his testimony before committee on October 28, 2010:

“Before the G-20s started taking place, the G-8 was known as the largest annual global security event. G-8 alone was known as the largest annual global security event. Now I guess the G-20 is challenging that. But if you put the two together and Canada was. This was unique, it's never happened before. So to supply security for the two largest annual global security events at the same time is a massive undertaking. So there's nothing really in the world to compare it to. I've had colleagues around the world who've said that we don't have anything to compare it to. They've called me and I've talked a lot to them. They want to know how do you do it.”

Furthermore, Canada did not only host the G8 and G20 Summits during this same week but were also hosts for the B20 and the My Summit2010. The honorable Lawrence Cannon, Minister of Foreign Affairs stated the following during his committee appearance on December9, 2010:

“Besides the summits of the G8 and G20, our country has been the host to two other important international meetings. Immediately after the G8 summit, officials from the Office of Summit Management have worked together on the summit of business or B20, which was held under the chairmanship of the Honourable John Manley of the Canadian Council of Chief Executives firm in Toronto, in the hours leading up to the G20 summit.

Meanwhile the official youth summit, known as My Summit 2010, started two days ahead of the G8 summit and lasted through to the end of the G20 summit, with activities in both Muskoka as well as in Toronto. University level delegates from around the world observed the summit process, engaged in their own summit on themes of global importance, and met senior officials, leaders, and other dignitaries. More than 150 future global leaders came to Canada for this youth summit, and we obviously fed them as well as housed them throughout their stay.”

All witnesses brought forwarded testimony demonstrating strong endorsement of the government's unprecedented transparency to summit costs.

The Parliamentary Budget Officer, Kevin Page, states in his report on the summits that: “The PBO’s research of publicly available information indicates that no other host country has provided ‘total’ security costs to this level of detail.”

The Auditor General, Sheila Fraser commented in this regard the following: "We found that the processes and controls around that were very good, and that the monies were spent as they were intended to be spent,"

Overall, these summits were considered to be a huge success and showcased Canada on the world stage.