The annual expenditure for safeguarding the prime minister has surged beyond $30 million.
The expenses incurred by Canadian taxpayers for safeguarding the prime minister and his family have surged over the past two fiscal years, reaching the highest level in two decades, according to an analysis conducted by CBC News.
The cost of RCMP protection for Canada’s prime ministers has witnessed a consistent upward trend over the past twenty years, and experts anticipate that it will continue to rise in the future.
To protect Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and his family, the cost exceeded $30 million annually during each of the past two fiscal years. In contrast, in 2003/04, it amounted to only $10.4 million to provide security for Prime Minister Jean Chrétien and his successor Paul Martin.
When adjusted for inflation using the Bank of Canada’s calculator, the 2003 figure of $10.4 million would now be equivalent to $15.9 million.
The RCMP has noted that several factors can influence the expenses associated with protecting a prime minister and their family.
“These include domestic and global threat risk, the number of people travelling, the level of activity, the number of locations attended, type and number of political obligations, as well as technological advancements, and elements dictated by economic factors such as cost of travel, accommodations and fuel.”
During the 2021/22 fiscal year, which included the 2021 federal election, the expenses for safeguarding the Trudeaus surged. This period was just over a year after the incident in which armed forces reservist Corey Hurren crashed a pickup truck containing firearms into the gates of Rideau Hall and sought the presence of Trudeau.
In 2022/23, the cost of protecting the Trudeaus reached $32.5 million, averaging $2.7 million per month. During the initial five months of the current fiscal year, RCMP protection for the prime minister and his family averaged $2.6 million per month.
The CBC News analysis, relying on data presented in Parliament and information obtained by Thompson Rivers University assistant professor Matt Malone through access to information, exclusively encompasses the expenses related to RCMP protection. It does not encompass any expenditures originating from Parliament, government agencies, or other Canadian security services tasked with the protection of prime ministers and their families.
Trudeau’s international vacations also entail security expenses funded by taxpayers. Their family’s Easter weekend excursion to Big Sky, Montana this year incurred a cost exceeding $228,000, with almost $205,000 of that total allocated to cover the expenses of the accompanying RCMP officers.
