OTTAWA (Reuters) - Canada's main opposition party urged the government on Thursday to curb the cost of this year's summit of the Group of Eight leaders, which some critics estimate could be as high as C$500 million ($320 million).
The summit will be held in the secluded Rocky Mountain resort of Kananaskis and security is expected to be very tight in the wake of the Sept. 11 attack on the United States.
Stockwell Day of the Canadian Alliance party told Foreign Minister Bill Graham that the government should be looking at the use of teleconferencing or other ways of reducing costs.
Day, speaking during a session of Parliament's foreign affairs committee, pointed out that C$500 million was the same amount that Canada has pledged to give to a new international effort designed to help alleviate African poverty.
"There are different innovative suggestions coming in that would make the price far less and then, rather than us paying at least C$300 million -- and we think it's going to approach C$500 million -- more dollars could be directed to true poverty related issues in Africa," Day said.
Graham declined to estimate how much the two-day summit would cost and reminded Day that the meeting itself would be much smaller than usual, with each delegation restricted to around 35 representatives at most.
"I certainly recognize the concerns for costs. The prime minister and the government are very concerned about the cost too," said Graham.
"(But) we're obviously facing an issue of a different order of magnitude as a result of the events of Sept. 11 in New York. So the cost of all these events will now be more."
Kananaskis will be closed to demonstrators, who are expected to gather instead in the nearby city of Calgary, Alberta, where police will be on full alert.
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