Whitehorse Daily Star

Royal visit enriched many Yukon businesses

Last September’s one-day visit to the territory by the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge brought with it excitement, performances, and a major street festival.

By Stephanie Waddell on January 13, 2017

Last September’s one-day visit to the territory by the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge brought with it excitement, performances, and a major street festival.

It also offered an opportunity for the Yukon to show off accomplishments – like the Single Track to Success project that has seen world-class mountain biking trails built in Carcross.

However, it all comes with a cost to Yukon taxpayers. Those bills – totalling $429,286.11 – are now publicly available.

The Yukon government released a four-page list Thursday detailing each of the costs – among them, an $800 popcorn bill.

The costs were accumulated while hosting the royals over an approximately 24-hour period Sept. 27-28, 2016.

The single largest amount, at $122,000 of the $152,339.97 spent on entertainment, went to Music Yukon for the professional music performance Will and Kate took in at the Kwanlin Dün Cultural Centre.

The rental agreement for the facility totalled $18,612.50.

The territory also paid Marsh Lake Tents and Events a combined $119,425 among three separate contracts:

• $48,475 for everything from linens and tables to power and heating in both Carcross and Whitehorse;

• $47,018 for crowd control and traffic fencing in Whitehorse at the cultural centre and street festival, and;

• $23,931.40 for crowd control and fencing in Carcross.

Those contracts were the largest of the $124,525 spent on suppliers.

The smallest of all the bills went to two local flower shops.

Whitehorse Flowers provided the arrival bouquet and In Bloom Flowers provided the departure bouquet for Will and Kate, each bouquet at a cost of $100.

Meanwhile, all those goodies handed out to the youngsters taking in the festival along Front and Main streets in Whitehorse came at a cost as well.

The government spent $800 on the popular locally-made Klondike Kettle Corn.

Balloons from the Dollar Store cost just $148, though another $643 was spent on the helium for the colourful additions to the festival.

Another $897.80 was spent on Canadian flags while $814.32 went to Yukon flags.

Both brands of flags were distributed among schools, community groups and on Front and Main streets, with many festival-goers proudly waving theirs to welcome the royal couple.

All of those were included in the list of supplies totalling $5,690.58, with the largest bill for that category being $1,625 for equipment and gravel at Montana Mountain in Carcross coming from the territory’s Department of Highways and Public Works.

Transportation also came at a cost of $31,621.86, with the largest expense under that coming in at $21,750 for the Qwest Helicoptions helicopter charter from Whitehorse to Carcross.

Prior to the official visit, there were also expenses with advance trips from representatives of Kensington Palace, the federal government and RCMP last Aug. 5 and Sept. 14.

The Aug. 5 visit totalled $7,613.80.

That included a $4,861.80 wrap-up meeting and dinner at The Wheelhouse Restaurant, $1,072 to transport officials between Whitehorse and Carcross using government vans, $880 on breakfast in Carcross from Cabin Fever Adventures and $800 in bagged lunches from The Wandering Bison.

The second advance trip on Sept. 14, which did not include the RCMP, saw spending total $726.52.

That included $448 in bagged lunches from The Wandering Bison and $278 again to transport officials between Whitehorse and Carcross.

The Wandering Bison was also contracted again for the official visit with the government paying the company $4,030.75 to cater the reception at the cultural centre.

A number of other local companies also had catering contracts through the visit, with the total bill for catering over Sept. 27 and 28 coming out to $7,851.

The media centre set up for the visit cost the territory $55,673.34.

The largest expense there was $29,445 for network support from Orange Technology in Whitehorse and Carcross.

Consultant work cost the government $27,266.77.

The largest expense under that was the $14,125 that went to the Carcross/Tagish First Nation for the community event at the Carcross Commons, including for the entertainment provided by local performers.

Communications for the visit cost the territory $18,795.01, with the biggest cost in that category being for the printing of signs to deal with crowd control, safety and traffic. Integraphics was contracted for the sign work at a cost of $8,878.

Fleming Protection and Security had two contracts for security services throughout the visit totalling $4,881.

Finally, the territory spent $2,288.22 on shipping and delivery during the visit. The bulk of that went to a $1,460 contract with A1 Delivery for luggage support.

The full list of expenses is available through the Yukon government’s website.

Earlier this month, it was revealed that the RCMP spent $2 million to provide security for the royals’ foray, though most of that was for their time in B.C.

Comments (5)

Up 0 Down 1

Always a Yukoner on Jan 19, 2017 at 3:28 pm

This is not a waste of money, what an experience for all Yukoners, geez people!! Good for all, businesses, employment, all Yukoners. How many people can say they experienced Royalty!! There is so much more to complain about then this, look at your City and the Government waste of money, every day, that adds up quickly!!

Up 3 Down 3

Dr. Dave on Jan 18, 2017 at 4:57 pm

Then perhaps those businesses that profited should pay for at last part of the visit.

Up 10 Down 9

jc on Jan 16, 2017 at 5:48 pm

They still want Canada in their dumb, ancient, without a purpose monarchy, then let them pay for their own visits. In fact, since they don't contribute anything to Canada, they should be made to go through customs like any other foreign visitor.

Up 20 Down 10

ProScience Greenie on Jan 16, 2017 at 10:57 am

That's about $10 per Yukoner and $15 per Yukon taxpayer. Would have been much nicer to have that money in my pocket to spend on a cold beer and a delicious Yukon made donair rather than see it going to pay for a party for a very wealthy young couple.

Then of course there's the C02 footprint of the event which the wealthy seem to get a free pass on.

Up 12 Down 15

JUDITH HARROWER on Jan 15, 2017 at 6:55 am

What a great end result for those in the Yukon, a much needed boast for local businesses and a moral boaster for everyone. Too bad that the RCMP's expenses were over the hill as now the average Canadian thinks "Was this really worth it?"

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