Even Canada Has To Pay For Jared And Ivanka’s Security Costs
The Royal Canadian Mounted Police stand at a memorial ceremony. Image by Getty
By Aiden Pink May 2, 2017
Congress’s proposed budget will include an extra $120 million to cover security costs for the Trump family, a reflection of their unprecedented travel schedule, which one former Secret Service agent called a “logistical nightmare.” But Americans are not the only ones who will have to pay up: security services for the First Family’s international travel are almost always supplemented by the host country.
This means that Canadian taxpayers likely paid to help protect Jared Kushner and Ivanka Trump’s Passover vacation at a ski resort in Whistler, British Columbia. The U.S. government spent at least $66,538.42 during the trip on hotel rooms and ski passes for Secret Service agents, NBC News reported. But the Royal Canadian Mounted Police would have also provided security, Simon Fraser University criminology professor Rob Gordon told CTV.
Gordon explained that the American and Canadian governments typically coordinate logistics when dignitaries visit each others’ countries, with the host country usually picking up the bill.
Even though the Trump-Kushner clan were in a five-star hotel and isolated from other guests, the RCMP would have still had a presence at the resort. “If they weren’t thorough and something went wrong, they would be hung out to dry,” Gordon said.
Contact Aiden Pink at pink@forward.com or on Twitter at @aidenpink.
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