Police have spent $1.5M so far on 2026 World Cup

Expenditures include salaries, commemorative coins, Apple headphones

- BEN SPURR

The Toronto Police Service said every spending decision goes through "multiple layers of approval" and that the force is ensuring "that all investments provide value in ensuring the safety and security of the World Cup."

With two years still to go until the 2026 FIFA World Cup, Toronto police have spent more than $1.5 million preparing for the tournament, according to new figures obtained by the Star.

The Toronto Police Service (TPS) says the expenditures which include officer salaries, security conferences, new police cars, commemorative medallions, computers and Apple AirPods - are all essential to their vital work ensuring Toronto safely hosts the World Cup. The city is staging six games for the global soccer tournament between June 12 and July 2, 2026.

But critics charge that details of the costs, which are paid for out of a city reserve fund and are separate from the annual net budget of the TPS, show troubling signs the tournament is being used to inflate already bloated police spending at the expense of other city priorities.

"You worry that it becomes a supplementary fund for the police... to dip into to purchase want-to-haves, not need-to-haves," said Anna Willats, a member of the Toronto Police Accountability Coalition. She called for more transparency around the force's FIFA spending.

Willats said the expenditures warrant particular public scrutiny in light of the bitter fight over the 2024 TPS budget, when police leaders warned city officials that failing to approve an extra $12-million increase to their $1.2-billion operating budget would jeopardize public safety.