A squad of mounted police patrol the G20 security zone in Toronto in June. The estimated final cost of hosting the G8/G20 summits is thought to be about $1 billion. (Paul Chiasson/Canadian Press)

By CBC News

The man in charge of organizing security at the G8 and G20 summits in Ontario during the summer says a final tally for security costs has not yet been tallied.

"At this point we don't know what the final security costs will be," Ward P.D. Elcock, of the Privy Council Office told parliamentarians at a Government Operations and Estimates committee on Tuesday.

Elcock was Ottawa's security co-ordinator for the event in June. Outrage over ballooning costs has grown ever since it became clear that the Canadian government spent nearly a billion dollars hosting the world for three days, when other host countries managed to do the same for tens of millions of dollars.

The next G20 summit is set to begin in South Korea next month.

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