Nice flying, but I personally subscribe to the YOYO theory (you're on your own) for those that deliberately put themselves at risk for recreation, recognition or whatever their motive might be. I lost two friends of a four man crew in the Canadian Rockies looking for a group of "modern adventurers". Total waste of young men who left behind young families...not to mention the cost to the taxpayers.
No we decided that every person has value even if they don't understand it themselves, what "WE" should be doing is charging them for costs related to that rescue and then maybe then some people will get the message.
Theoretically you are absolutely correct. Canada should recover the $24 million it expended to pull the jerks off the ice flow. But like our current litigation system, even when one wins a judgment against a frivolous litigant, they almost always have no assets or have hidden from recovery any they had.
The most efficient recovery is a consultation to Dr. Darwin.
I learned that when I immigrated to the South...normally hooked to "AMF"...Adios Mother F... as in AMF YOYO notation on a chart...generally now unavailable on Electronic Medical Records.