TORONTO - The security budget for next summers Pan Am Games in Toronto was far too low, and arrangements to protect venues and athletes are behind schedule,
auditor general Bonnie Lysyk warned Wednesday.
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Grijs .Lysyk did a special audit after the opposition parties complained
that the Liberal government awarded a contract for the bulk of private security
services at the Games to a company that did not have the lowest bid.The
governments decision to award the contract to Contemporary Security Canada was
fair, even though at $81 million it was $14 million higher than the next lowest
bid, concluded Lysyk.The selection processes ... were fair and transparent,
complied with government procurement policies and applied lessons learned from
other similar sporting events, she wrote.Officials put appropriate emphasis on
contractors prior experience with providing security at large-scale events and
project management qualifications, added Lysyk.However, we had concerns with the
timing of security procurement and the communication of the related expected
costs.The auditor said the private security contract was budgeted in 2013 at
only $42 million, far lower than the $81 million contract that was awarded.Our
only concern was that the budget for security procurement was understated and
should have been more accurate, wrote Lysyk. We noted the same understatement of
budgets for other, smaller security procurements. Pan Am organizers now estimate
security costs at $247.4 million, more than double the original estimate of
$121.9 million in Torontos bid for the Games.I wouldnt say it was a deliberate
ploy to mislead people, Lysyk told reporters. It really wasnt until there was
more information, more work being done on security planning, when they started
to appreciate that number was too low.Sport Minister Michael Coteau could not
explain why the private security budget for the Games was off so much just a
year ago, and said he would not put a firm limit on the security budget because
there could be a change in the threat level.What would it look like knowing this
government put a hard cap on security and comprised the safety of Ontarians,
Coteau asked reporters. If the cost increases because of a (higher) threat
level, Im quite comfortable with that.Deputy OPP Commissioner Brad Blair said
the threat level was increased last month after a gunman shot and killed a
soldier at the Ottawa war memorial before storming Parliament Hill, where he was
fatally shot by security.The threat level has changed, which means theres a
heightened awareness, not only within law enforcement but also with the general
public, said Blair. Until we see a specific threat to these games, I would say
our planning principles would not change.Arrangements to ensure athletes and
officials have secure access to the field-of-play zones at Pan Am venues and to
protect the athletes and their equipment are behind schedule, warned Lysyk.With
only nine months before the Games begin, TO2015 had only just issued a request
for proposals for contract asset protection security services, nor had it
completed all procurements for security equipment, she said. TO2015 was supposed
to look after the venue of play security, and that hasnt been completed.The
opposition parties said they feared security was just one area where the Pan Am
Games organizers would blow the budget.Theres a real good chance well be back
here in November of next year, after the Games are over, and youre going to see
that every piece of the pie involving the Pan Am Games is way over budget, and
its the taxpayers of Ontario that are going to have to pay for those overruns,
said Progressive Conservative Todd Smith.If theyre messing up so much with
respect to the security costs, how much more is out there that we dont know
about yet, asked New Democrat Jagmeet Singh.The Toronto security estimate is
just a fraction of the nearly $900 million spent on security at the Vancouver
Olympics, but officials believe there is a lower risk profile at the Pan Am
Games, with far fewer high-profile dignitaries expected to attend.In September,
the province had to pump another $74 million into the Games, most of it because
of lower than expected sponsorship revenues.The government was criticized for
not including the $709 million cost of the athletes village in its original
$1.4-billion budget for the Games, which now is expected to top $2.57 billion
and could go even higher.It could increase even more depending on future risk
and threat assessments and changes in the scope of the Games, said Lysyk.Follow
@CPnewsboy on TwitterNote to readers: This is a corrected story. An earlier
version had an incorrect spelling of the last name of Sport Minister Michael
Coteau.
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team.TORONTO -- Change was on Brendan Shanahans mind when he took over as
president of the Toronto Maple Leafs. After taking some time to assess the
organization, he made his first major change to the front office Tuesday, firing
assistant general manager Claude Loiselle and vice-president of hockey
operations Dave Poulin, and hiring 28-year-old Kyle Dubas as the teams new
assistant GM. The move represented a shift in philosophy to shape the Leafs more
in Shanahans image. "Hes not tied to any old ideas," Shanahan said of Dubas. "I
believe we have people in our organization who have maybe been afraid of certain
words and certain information who, once you speak with Kyle, I think he makes it
seem much more logical and easy to apply." For some time, the Leafs have been
considered behind the times with advanced statistics and even the way NHL
rosters are shaped. Truculence was and still is a Brian Burke buzzword, and long
after his departure Toronto has remained under GM Dave Nonis and coach Randy
Carlyle a team that prizes intangibles and toughness perhaps more than the rest
of the league. Hiring Dubas doesnt immediately mean that will end, especially
given that most of the off-season moving and shaking is over. But the former
Sault Ste. Marie Greyhounds GM brings fresh ideas and could make the Leafs more
willing to embrace different philosophies. "I think every organization rightly
or wrongly changes every day," Dubas said during his introductory news
conference at Air Canada Centre. "If youre not changing, everything around you
is and thus youre going to change in not a great way. Ive got the impression in
talking to Brendan and talking to Dave that theyre certainly open to any and all
ideas, and that was one of the things that was most enticing about the situation
here for me." Shanahan said he began this process just "polling the hockey
world" looking for rising stars and innovators to talk to, not specifically a
person to hire as an assistant GM. A conversation with OHL commissioner David
Branch and others led to Dubas emerging as the top name. Over some time,
Shanahan began to see Dubas as not just a source of knowledge but someone hed
like to apply that to the Leafs organization. An expected two-hour meeting
became seven and became dinner as the two men not only bonded over the shared
experiences of being criticized in new jobs but challenged each others
preconceived notions about hockey. Dubas, who served as a Greyhounds scout as a
teenager before becoming the youngest NHLPA certified agent and the second
youngest GM in OHL history, made a strong impression on Shanahan. "I think our
view on hockey and how its being played and how it should be played are very
similar," Shanahan said. "But immediately for a young guy to come in and have
his first meeting with me and challenge thoughts and ideas, I thought that was
maybe the most encouraging sign. Thats what I want, I always want our group to
be a group where thoughts and ideas are challenged and you come out together as
a team." Asked what changes hed like to make to the Leafs, Dubas played the card
that hell do what hes asked. But what drew him away from his hometown Greyhounds
-- not a "slam dunk" -- was an ability to make an impact. "I was enthused with
my talking to Brendan, then even more enthused with my discussions with Dave and
where he sees the game goingg and the game evolving," Dubas said.
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the entire process: Knowing that Id be able to come in and be heard and help out
as much as possible." Shanahan also thinks Dubas will be able to teach older
members of the organization a few things, lauding his personal skills to be able
to communicate and convince without being overbearing. With the 50-year-old
talking so much about changing the Leafs "culture," Dubas is a step in that
direction. "I can certainly say that anybody in our organization, regardless of
what they were asked in the past or past years, their opinions, a little bit of
time with Kyle can change those opinions and change those views," Shanahan said.
"He is not an in-your-face kind of guy, hes logical, hes thoughtful." Asked if
logic was something that was missing, Shanahan said it was "something that we
obviously felt needed to be improved upon." Even amid his excitement about
hiring Dubas, Shanahan said it was a difficult day to let good people go. Poulin
had been around since 2009 and Loiselle since 2010. Each originally hired by
Burke, Poulin and Loiselle didnt fit with the new regime of Shanahan, Nonis and
now Dubas. "I think that there wouldve been some redundancies there had they
stayed and there wouldve been some changes to their role that I dont think was
necessarily going to be a proper fit for them," Shanahan said. Shanahan added
that Dubass specific duties for the Leafs were ironed out at dinner with Nonis
on Monday night. Though Dubas has salary-cap and CBA experience from his past
career as an agent, the team is expected to hire another assistant GM for some
of that day-to-day work as well as potentially someone else in the front office.
"We want to make sure that everybodys in their most comfortable place and a
place in which were as efficient as we can be as a club," Shanahan said. Even
with another assistant GM around, Shanahan expects Dubas to influence the
organization as a whole. "Information is power and Kyle is great at gathering
information," he said. "Its not just one specific job for him. I think hes
somebody that really wants to sort of be involved in a lot of things." Dubas
spent the past three seasons as GM in Sault Ste. Marie, and the Greyhounds made
the playoffs twice after a rocky start. Concerned with his own team, Dubas didnt
get a chance to watch the Leafs much but caught some replays recently once the
possibility grew that hed be moving to the NHL. Living in Ontario, Dubas couldnt
avoid hearing about the Leafs. And though his only connection to the coaching
staff is knowing assistant Steve Spott, hell have a chance to learn more in
time. "I know what a lot of the criticisms and a lot of the positives are
surrounding the team and now its just going to be about really digging into it
and breaking it down that Im working here," Dubas said. Later Tuesday, the Leafs
signed left-winger David Booth to a US$1.1-million one-year contract. They still
need to figure out what to do with restricted-free-agent goaltender James Reimer
and sign restricted-free-agent defenceman Jake Gardiner to a new contract,
things that Shanahan said Nonis has under control. As far as improving the rest
of the on-ice product with the Leafs, Shanahan said: "Were working on it."
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