The prime minister's pointman for the G-8 is rejecting criticisms over the skyrocketing cost of the June summit in Kananaskis, saying even a half-billion-dollar price tag for the 30-hour meeting would be perfectly reasonable.
Robert Fowler said the summit cost is a small price to pay, given the billions of dollars in aid and investment the face-to-face meetings of world leaders generate for poorer nations.
"We're talking about -- and I do not believe you do this on the telephone or by e-mail -- a plan that is going to fundamentally alter the way the world deals with 800 million Africans who are in utterly desperate circumstances," Fowler said. "To me, that's worth a lot of money," he said Friday at a meeting with the Herald's editorial board.
Fowler was responding to Canadian Alliance party critics who claim the summit could cost up to $500 million -- a sum they say is far too expensive.
The price tag of last year's G-8 summit in Genoa was $225 million. The last G-8 held in Canada, at Halifax in 1995, cost only $25 million.
Fowler wouldn't estimate the real cost of the Kananaskis summit, but security costs for the June 26-27 event are expected to be especially high in the wake of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.
The Calgary Police Service has budgeted security for the city at $40 million. The RCMP, which protects the summit site in Kananaskis, is refusing to estimate its security costs.
Bob Mills, G-8 critic for the Alliance, said there has to be a point at which G-8 leaders deem the summits too expensive to continue.
"These summits are getting more and more and more expensive, largely because of the security problems," said Mills, MP for Red Deer.
A key focus of the Kananaskis summit is an African action plan that will tie billions of dollars of aid and investment funding to a set of key indicators for African nations, such as good governance and the holding of fair and free democratic votes.
Countries that adhere to these requirements will get more money and help from G-8 nations.
In recent months, Fowler said, summit-related discussions have resulted in billions of dollars worth of funding pledges for poorer nations, including:
- A promise from the United States to spend $80 billion Cdn over 10 years on foreign development, with a significant portion going to Africa;
- A commitment from the European Union to spend $37.8 billion Cdn on Africa;
- A promise by the Liberal government to immediately increase spending on Africa by $500 million, while boosting that by eight per cent each year that Prime Minister Jean Chretien is in office.
"We are talking about very large amounts of money that are very much larger than (the estimated summit cost of) half a billion dollars," Fowler said.
"I'm saying why are you not comparing (the summit cost) to the 700 people who die every day in Africa from AIDS, or to the 2,700 kids under five who die of malaria every day?"
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