The Cost of the Toronto G20: A billion dollars well spent?

Estimated costs: Time and unexpected damages

The entire downtown core will likely be slowed down by the police checkpoints planned at every major intersection inside and around the security zone. Lineups at restricted access points to the zone, the number and location of which have yet to be released, will produce further delays.

Major arteries into and out of the city will see “periodic closures” and “significant delays” until Sunday, June 27.

The ISU advises city dwellers and visitors to use public transit over the weekend, though that too will be adversely impacted: the entrances to Union Station on Front Street will be closed, and certain bus routes will be cancelled.

Precedents: London resident Ian Tomlinson died during the G20 summit in that city last year after an apparently unwarranted confrontation with police on his way home from work. Though the cause of his death remains unclear, critics blame it on excessive police force.

Quick Facts: Signal jammers, which create bubbles of electronic silence around motorcades, may cause a few dropped cell phone calls over the weekend.

Police and social workers are encouraging homeless people who live within the security and traffic perimeters to safe havens in other areas of the city. Toronto police have promised that those who do not move voluntarily will be escorted from the downtown core.

Quotable Contributor

"Toronto is a world city and banking centre so financial problems abroad can have a significant negative impact on residents' standard of living. For that reason, successful efforts by countries at the upcoming summits to foster relationships and chart a unified course to address global financial and trade challenges could pay major longer-term economic dividends to the Toronto economy. Only time will tell. If the summits fall short, the city's population will be left with no doubt that the massive security costs, the disruptions due to cancelled events, and the productivity lost by downtown businesses that elect to send their employees home was not worth it." Derek Burleton