TORONTO: Documents obtained by the Canadian Taxpayers Federation (CTF) show that the province had 80 security staff working at the 2016 Ontario budget lockups, and security costs totalling $107,381.34.

Budget lockups are closed briefings for journalists and stakeholders to provide early access to budget documents the day they are released. The Frost lock down is another smaller budget review one month before the budget date.

To prevent leaks before the documents are available to the public, journalists and stakeholders in lockups are not permitted to leave the room after reading the budget, and have no access to their phones or to the Internet. The $107,381.34  in costs include the media lockup, the stakeholder lockup, and the Frost lock down prior to release date.

“I get that the government wants to prevent leaks, but the security at these lockups is getting excessive,” said CTF Ontario Director Christine Van Geyn. “We don’t need taxpayers covering the six-figure cost of 80 cops babysitting a bunch of reporters and policy wonks looking at spreadsheets. This isn’t prison lock down, it’s budget lockup, and these security costs are out of control.”

The 2017 Ontario budget is set for release on April 27, and will include a stakeholder and media lockup.

“This year, I hope the government shows some restraint in the security costs of the budget,” said Van Geyn. “This is all taxpayer money. There’s no need to blow the budget on budget day.”