Mounties: Summit security under budget

OTTAWA, Oct. 28 (UPI) -- Canadian police Thursday said the security costs for Group of Eight and Group of 20 international summits in June came in considerably under budget.

The bill from the Royal Canadian Mounted Police for the summits was predicted to be $330 million, nearly $140 million less than the $507 million the Mounties had been expecting, the Postmedia News reported.

Opposition parliament members questioned Superintendent Alphonse MacNeil, commander of the integrated summit security unit, before the House of Commons government operations committee in Ottawa, on issues ranging from the more than $300,000 spent on insect repellent spray to the $4 million lease on a building used as a security headquarters in Huntsville, Ontario.

MacNeil said the RCMP purchased the best bug spray that money could buy to put into $40 "personal kits" for security personnel.

The overall security budget for the summits was $930 million, with the Mounties' expenses the greatest portion of it, Postmedia News reported.

The G8 summit held in Huntsville and the G20 in Toronto during three days in late June were described as the most expensive three days in Canadian history.