Next weekend’s G8 and G20 meetings will ding taxpayers for about $833,000 per minute of actual leaders’ meeting time.

Overall cost the cost of the meetings estimated at roughly $1.2 billion.

A “fake”lake.

During the June 25-27 summits in Muskoka and Toronto, the leaders are expected to spend about 24 hours in actual meetings—which works out to approximately $50 million an hour in cost.

And then there is the "fence" – Fortress Toronto.
The cost of the fence is still being tallied, but a reported $5.5 million (it was $4 million in the early planning) is the starting point. The final price-tag could exceed $1 billion, if one included all the security costs. Within 10 days the fence will be gone.

It is rather ironic that the leaders will be “sitting down and making collective decisions on what’s best for the global economy,” when so much money is being spent on these meetings.  Millions of people are dying by the hour because they lack the basic necessities of food and clean water.
 

1.2 billion dollars is about what South Africa will be spending on the World Cup tournament.  It'll last considerably longer that 72 hours.  Tourists are expected to spend around 1 billion; that event may come close to breaking even.

I can't see a whole lot of tourist dollars being generated by G8 or G20.  Pretty much a complete loss.

More people worldwirde will be able to tell you who won the World Cup.  Will anything so memorable come up in the summit meetings?

Go figure.

I find it amusing that Toronto Tourism is saying the summit will bring more visitors to the city, and meanwhile the Americans are warning their citizens to stay away.

So, Americans won't be coming to swim in our "fake" lake.....too bad.  

G20: Go jump in the lake.

http://www.lifeexperiences.ca/g20fakelake/

How can any of this bring in tourist dollars?  In both Toronto and Huntsville businesses have had to shut down.  I know fishing guides who had to cancel bookings not only for next weekend but the past weekend and all this week - perhaps security thought they would plant bombs in their catch and releases.

In our area every weekend counts from May 24 to Labour day.  Lose a weekend's business and it means a long cold winter.  Its accepted that one has to sucumb to Mother Nature but this year the hunger will be due to Big Government as well.

Deliveries have been canceled - even pharmacy ones - for Thursday and Friday as far south as Orillia because the companies do not believe their trucks will get through.

Speaking of lakes, the lakes around Deerhurst are now restricted - no boating of any kind including canoes and kayaks.  Apparently home owners are allowed to take a dip in the lakes but not swim past their own property lines.

Residents living in the surrounding areas have been warned that emergency vehicles will have difficulties getting through check points so they better hope they don't have heart attacks or fires.

The cost of this debacle is not just financial; there is the cost of the personal freedoms of those who call this area home and there may even be the cost of life.  The long term costs to all Canadians will be the same - the government will cry poor as hospitals and emergency services shut down due to lack of funding.

I can no longer find even the ironical humour of a so called "fiscally conscious" government wasting tax payer dollars on a meeting that will amount to nothing but a bunch of good ol' boys drinking scotch on the dock.

Here's hoping the Muskoka Mosquitoes are in full force and suck the blighters as dry as they have done to the Canadian taxpayer.

LB

Death and taxes may be inevitable, but they shouldn't be related.

     J.C. Watts, Jr.

"Here's hoping the Muskoka Mosquitoes are in full force and suck the blighters as dry as they have done to the Canadian taxpayer."

LB

Let's hope the blackflies are also especially hungry for fresh blood.   Expect the boys will be properly lathered in Deet and other noxious repellants.

In Toronto, parents are having to drive their children to school on Friday because school buses won't be operating - too many traffic jams.  So how are the poor parents expected to navigate the mess?   Many parents need to be at work, not spending hours on the road.

Why doesn't the government declare a school holiday because that's pretty much what will happen.

I was reading an article wherein the writer observed that 99.9% of the delegates and world leaders attending are male.  No wonder serious issues such as human rights violations against women and children, AIDS, poverty and hunger and women's issues in general will be pushed to the bottom of the agenda, if addressed at all.

 "Much ado about nothing!"

 I actually heard reports that business is down in both Huntsville AND Toronto. All this has attracted is protests.

The fake lake is an absolute INSULT to Canada, in particular Ontario (Ontario comes from the word for 'beautiful lake/water'....) which is completely dotted with lakes, not to mention has the largest lakes in the world..... They said it would spark interest in countries abroad to see the Muskokas....... wait, why don't we just have it in the Muskokas so they can show the actual beauty of the area, instead of a cheap (but expensive) representation of it?

It's like Harper has no sense of logic whatsoever. Why the hell would you host it in downtown Toronto? The G20 isn't supposed to be a spectacle for the general population. It's supposed to be a meeting of governments to discuss economic and social issues that affect their countries. Host it in the mountains of Alberta, up in Nunavut, the Thousand Islands in Ontario, etc... it would be difficult for protesters to get to any of these places.

And then there's Harper's choices of topics. Maternal/Child health, without discussing abortion? Is that even possible?

Hopefully people start realizing Harper's dictatorial/fascist tendencies and send him packing. It's too bad the Liberals can't find a leader worth voting for.

Not only is it a waste of our money, there are existing facilities in Geneva (the old League of Nations) And New York (the U.N.) that can be used for far less money and no major protest.

Now that it is over, I think a billion dollars was a deal.  It can be expensive to maintain rule of law.

Yes, but would either of them have tried to build a fake lake for them?