Juno News - Who should pay for Harry and Meghan's security costs？

00:00:00.000 The Globe and Mail had an op-ed talking about the relocation of Prince Harry and the Duchess

00:00:09.760 of Sussex, Meghan Markle, from Windsor to southern Vancouver Island. Their position

00:00:16.240 seemed to be that we have a tenuous relationship with the monarchy and part of that relationship

00:00:22.560 should be figurehead and arm's length. As such, no member of the royal family should

00:00:28.800 be permanently located in Canada. Well, fair enough, I suppose. I take no position on that

00:00:37.560 one way or another. However, the suggestion by our Prime Minister saying Canada should

00:00:44.100 pay for their security while they are in Canada, as reported in the Express and the Daily Mail,

00:00:50.640 would seem to be a non-starter with Canadians. When confronted with the story, the PM said

00:00:57.120 no decisions have been made and discussions are ongoing. At this point, it is unclear what the

00:01:04.220 tab would be for security for the royal couple. It is believed they will be staying at a six-bedroom,

00:01:10.620 eight-bathroom mansion called Mille Fleurs, just outside of Victoria. It has a turret and was built

00:01:17.800 with stone walls and a large stone fence surrounding the property. From a security perspective,

00:01:24.360 it would be relatively a breeze to secure using primarily technological solutions with a minimum

00:01:31.640 of manpower. Having said that, a proper security review and threat assessment would need to be done

00:01:39.200 to determine what level of protection the couple would need. The Duchess of Sussex would likely not 0.94

00:01:47.000 need anything special. Yesterday, she flew a harbour air seaplane to Vancouver and visited a woman's

00:01:54.120 centre. She did it without incident. Away from the paparazzi in the UK, she pretty much goes unnoticed. 0.95

00:02:01.560 She appeared to be accompanied by one security officer, but it isn't clear whether that person is

00:02:07.720 private or a member of the RCMP. Prince Harry would be a separate question. Certainly, he is much more

00:02:14.360 famous than the Duchess in terms of recognizability. He is also sixth in line to the throne, which really

00:02:21.640 means there is zero chance he will ever ascend to it, but since the funeral of his mother, the world has

00:02:28.760 watched him grow up. Typically, when the RCMP evaluates security requirements for a VIP visit,

00:02:36.200 they assess everything and then assign a level from one to seven. One is the lowest level of security and

00:02:42.760 means essentially they greet the dignitary at the airport and give them a business card with a

00:02:47.000 phone number to call on it if they need anything. Level seven is full motorcade, motorcycle escort,

00:02:53.160 welding down the sewer covers, removing mail and paper boxes along the route, and staging police

00:03:00.360 officers every few yards along the motorcade route. My guess is that Prince Harry in Canada would be

00:03:07.240 assessed at a level one or two, so security requirements would be at a minimum. He has a famous face and is

00:03:15.320 a political figure by nature of his birth, but is he more famous than say Pamela Anderson? When she travels

00:03:23.000 to Vancouver, which she does frequently, or to her parents home in Ladysmith, she arranges her own security

00:03:28.840 if needed, and often it's not unless she is attending a public event. The question then becomes,

00:03:36.360 if it is decided that the Prince is in need of security while on Canadian soil, who pays?

00:03:43.880 The Royal Protection Detail, who provides security in the UK, would not want to staff a long-term

00:03:50.760 foreign event. An Angus Reid poll just released indicated that 73% of Canadians don't want the taxpayer

00:03:58.360 to foot the bill for security for the couple. I suspect it would be hard to swallow for most Canadians,

00:04:06.360 especially with the burgeoning debt and deficit we have. We would have to essentially borrow money

00:04:13.080 to do it, and how much money is a whole other question. The RCMP E-Division VIP section could

00:04:20.520 theoretically do it for a short term, but it would be expensive in terms of overtime, accommodation,

00:04:27.000 travel, etc. A longer-term solution would have to be sought, but again, who pays? The Prince and Duchess

00:04:36.360 are estimated to be worth somewhere around 25 million dollars. Would that be enough to absorb an

00:04:42.440 estimated 10 to 20 thousand per month tab for even low-level security? Whatever decisions are made in

00:04:49.720 this? Canadians are clear. They don't want to foot the bill. For True North, I'm Leo Knight.

Juno News - January 19, 2020