Government still not sure what World Cup security will cost British Columbians

Just weeks away from the 2025 FIFA World Cup, the costs of ensuring event security in Vancouver remains unclear.

Vancouver is 45 days away from hosting the biggest sporting event in the world, and Public Safety Minister Nina Krieger wouldn’t say what the cost will be to British Columbians to keep residents and visitors safe.

It’s expected that the FIFA World Cup will have the largest number of officers ever needed to police an event in Vancouver.

With the city hosting seven World Cup games in June and July, the most recent estimate for the overall cost of the event is between $532 million and $624 million. That figure is from last June, however. It went up significantly from initial estimates and is expected to go up again when the final figure is provided.

For security, Ottawa has said it will contribute to the cost, but the public safety minister says she doesn’t know how much yet and wouldn’t disclose how much B.C. is footing.

“We’ve had productive conversations and we have been eagerly awaiting an update about their contribution, and we do expect that to arrive in short order,” said Krieger.

Trevor Halford, interim Leader of the B.C. Conservatives, was skeptical. “We’re 45 days out and the fact that we don’t have a sense of how this cost is going to be shared and what the cost is, I think is incredibly problematic because that means it’s likely going to be a very, very high cost that wasn’t budgeted properly,” he said Monday.

B.C. Greens Leader Emily Lowan thinks the money spent on hosting the event is a waste. “Absolute boondoggle. The ballooning costs of security, the human rights violations, the hospital overruns – and I think FIFA is a test to our government at all levels,” she said.

The NDP government says that it projects that hosting the World Cup in Vancouver will generate more than $1 billion in visitor spending for B.C.’s economy.

The public safety minister met with her Ottawa counterpart at the end of last month to emphasize the importance of federal help with security funding, but is still waiting on a final commitment.

The province has said the final estimate for the total cost of hosting seven World Cup games will be announced near the end of spring.

The FIFA World Cup kicks off on June 10, with the first game in Mexico.