Mr. Speaker, as I have already indicated, my friend opposite talks about lofty promises. I just gave him one that came from him in this House. Let us see how that pans out for him tomorrow.
I would like to take the opportunity to remind the member opposite that Canada has an obligation to protect visiting heads of state in accordance with the United Nations convention that was adopted in 1973 to provide security to internationally protected persons.
The 38 world leaders and 5,800 delegates who arrived in Canada for the summits were all covered under the security provisions that were delivered. Clearly, their security was critical to the success of the summits.
The responsibility that comes with hosting events of this magnitude and the corresponding risks cannot simply be dismissed due to monetary reasons.
Security experts, the Auditor General and the Parliamentary Budget Officer have all confirmed that the security costs were reasonable and direct cost comparisons that the media and the opposition have made to other summits have been disingenuous and false.