{"id":579513,"date":"2026-04-03T11:55:14","date_gmt":"2026-04-03T11:55:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/579513\/"},"modified":"2026-04-03T11:55:14","modified_gmt":"2026-04-03T11:55:14","slug":"ottawa-hasnt-committed-to-a-solid-number-for-fifa-security-costs-yet-eby-says","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/579513\/","title":{"rendered":"Ottawa hasn\u2019t committed to a solid number for FIFA security costs yet, Eby says"},"content":{"rendered":"

Open this photo in gallery:<\/a><\/p>\n

B.C. Premier David Eby says he couldn’t provide a ballpark figure for updated security costs yet, but would make that number public once Vancouver police and the Mounties finalize their plans.CHAD HIPOLITO\/The Canadian Press<\/p>\n

British Columbia is still finalizing the security budget to host the 2026 FIFA World Cup<\/a> and is in negotiations with Ottawa to get help with those costs, with just two months to go before the tournament starts. <\/p>\n

B.C. Premier David Eby<\/a> told reporters in Victoria this week that he was issuing the federal government a \u201cyellow card\u201d because it had not yet committed to a solid figure for security costs. Vancouver\u2019s municipal police force is co-ordinating with the RCMP and Canadian border agents to ensure the games are safe. <\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re housing a lot of police officers, we are deploying a significant amount of additional policing,\u201d Mr. Eby said Wednesday afternoon. \u201cIt is our international reputation that is on the line, which is why the federal government has committed to being our partner in this work, but they haven\u2019t cut the cheque and we can\u2019t pay the rent with promises.\u201d<\/p>\n

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He said he could not yet provide a ballpark figure for updated security costs, but would make that number public once Vancouver police and the Mounties finalize their plans. B.C. Public Safety Minister Nina Krieger\u2019s office said in a Thursday statement she met with her federal counterpart in Ottawa last week and pressed for the funding. <\/p>\n

The expenses associated with hosting FIFA\u2019s marquee tournament in Vancouver and Toronto has ballooned since the two cities first joined the 14 other host municipalities in the United States and Mexico. <\/p>\n

Vancouver\u2019s estimated costs for hosting seven of the games have swelled from roughly $240-million in 2022 to $624-million, shared between all three levels of government, The Globe and Mail reported<\/a> earlier this year.<\/p>\n

In response to Mr. Eby\u2019s criticism, Louis-Carl Brissette Lesage, a spokesperson for federal Public Safety Minister Gary Anandasangaree, said that Ottawa\u2019s 2025 budget added $100-million \u201cto support RCMP, CBSA and other government departments to help ensure the event is delivered safely and securely.\u201d<\/p>\n

However, his statement did not address questions about whether any of this money has started flowing to B.C. The government also did not say how many federal security personnel it plans on sending to Vancouver and Toronto.<\/p>\n

Mr. Brissette Lesage\u2019s statement noted the federal government originally invested up to $220-million to support Toronto and Vancouver\u2019s bid to host the games.<\/p>\n

The organizers of Vancouver\u2019s games have promised a fiscal update some time this spring. <\/p>\n

Toronto expects to spend $93.7-million on event safety and security, according its most recent budget document \u2013 costs that include policing, paramedic services, fire protection and emergency management by city departments. <\/p>\n

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Security is the most expensive budget item for Toronto during the tournament, and the city expects to spend more than $380-million on its six World Cup games overall. <\/p>\n

To offset some of those costs, the city is relying on a temporary municipal accommodation tax to bring in more than $56-million, and another $42-million in commercial-rights sales and rental fees. The revenue will come from premium ticketed events, vendor fees, fan festivals and selling local city-specific sponsorships, according to its budget document. <\/p>\n

Ontario has pledged another $14-million for the use of the Ontario Provincial Police during the tournament. <\/p>\n

Mr. Anandasangaree did not provide a breakdown Thursday of how much federal money is being allocated for the use of the RCMP and Canadian Border Services Agency<\/a> to help provide security in Toronto or Vancouver.<\/p>\n

All the FIFA host cities across North America are feeling the pressure of rising costs, much of it driven by inflation, an expanded tournament format, required stadium upgrades and higher-than-expected security costs.<\/p>\n

Some U.S. host cities have scaled back on the size of their outdoor watch parties, instead planning more affordable, smaller-scale festival celebrations.<\/p>\n

Toronto and Vancouver have both pledged to continue with their plans for large FIFA-branded areas, where tens of thousands of fans can come to soak up the atmosphere of the tournament.<\/p>\n

FIFA has defended the high cost of hosting, arguing there is a long-term return that will benefit host cities. According to the soccer federation\u2019s own assessment, Canada will see $3.8-billion in positive economic output, including $2-billion in GDP, $1.3-billion in labour income and 24,100 jobs created between 2023 and 2026. <\/p>\n

FIFA appears to have technical difficulties with latest round of World Cup ticket sales<\/a><\/p>\n

Bud Mercer, a former RCMP assistant commissioner who oversaw security for Vancouver\u2019s 2010<\/a> Winter Olympic and Paralympic games, said the costliest part of ensuring a safe event of that size was housing the thousands of extra police officers that were flown in from across Canada.<\/p>\n

He said international news agencies and sports organizations began booking hotels in the area as soon as Vancouver and Whistler\u2019s Olympic bid was accepted. That meant there were few housing options left much later, once threat assessments had been made and staffing plans were finalized between all the law enforcement agencies.<\/p>\n

The RCMP ultimately paid a premium to rent rooms from homeowners in Whistler and to contract three cruise ships to dock in downtown Vancouver for police officers working the games. Accommodation over those 60 days ate up more than $150-million of Mr. Mercer\u2019s overall security budget, he said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Open this photo in gallery: B.C. Premier David Eby says he couldn’t provide a ballpark figure for updated…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":579514,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[194295],"tags":[901,888,902,879,877,903,49,48,876,895,896,891,878,875,46,549,295,894,887,914,880,881,893,889,890,884,904,885,909,910,912,907,911,905,20739,908,882,898,899,714,897,906,865,61,900,892,886,883,913],"class_list":{"0":"post-579513","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-ottawa","8":"tag-alberta","9":"tag-arts-news","10":"tag-bc","11":"tag-breaking-news","12":"tag-breaking-news-video","13":"tag-british-columbia","14":"tag-ca","15":"tag-canada","16":"tag-canada-news","17":"tag-canada-sports","18":"tag-canada-sports-news","19":"tag-canada-trafficcanada-weather","20":"tag-canadian-breaking-news","21":"tag-canadian-news","22":"tag-economy","23":"tag-education","24":"tag-environment","25":"tag-federal-government","26":"tag-foreign-news","27":"tag-globe-and-mail","28":"tag-globe-and-mail-breaking-news","29":"tag-globe-and-mail-canada-news","30":"tag-government","31":"tag-life-news","32":"tag-lifestyle","33":"tag-local-news","34":"tag-manitoba","35":"tag-national-news","36":"tag-new-brunswick","37":"tag-newfoundland-and-labrador","38":"tag-northwest-territories","39":"tag-nova-scotia","40":"tag-nunavut","41":"tag-ontario","42":"tag-ottawa","43":"tag-pei","44":"tag-photos","45":"tag-political-news","46":"tag-political-opinion","47":"tag-politics","48":"tag-politics-news","49":"tag-quebec","50":"tag-sports-news","51":"tag-technology","52":"tag-travel","53":"tag-trudeau","54":"tag-us-news","55":"tag-world-news","56":"tag-yukon"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/579513","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=579513"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/579513\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/579514"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=579513"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=579513"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=579513"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}