There was a great column in the Globe about Dean Del Mastro, by Douglas Bell, who aptly refers to him as the Canadian Idiot.
Yesterday’s Globe featured a piece by Steven Chase describing Tory efforts to filibuster an attempt to convene hearings to review policing at the G20 summit. Among those MPs quoted was Peterborough Tory Dean del Mastro. Now you might expect that being a pro-life, anti-gay-marriage backbencher who sits on a lot of committees, Del Mastro would – how to put it – tack down wind on this one. Fair enough. Nobody gets ahead in a Harper caucus going even ever so slightly off message. Del Mastro, though, went above and beyond to the point where I’m thinking a rabies test might not be inappropriate.
Maybe it's not fair to single him out, but his actions regarding the violence at the G-20, epitomizes the way this government handles every awkward situation.
Instead of addressing issues they spew out talking points and hide behind Canadian institutions.
Our men and women in uniform ...
Our brave police officers ...
Our flag ...
The problem of course is that those things are ours, not theirs, and when they are being disgraced, we need to make it right by restoring their honour, and you don't do that by turning yourselves into cartoon characters.
You do it by allowing inquiries to get at the truth. Weed out the "bad guys" if you find any and restore our faith in them.
Another example of the problem with always having to stick to a script, and never being allowed to think for yourself is this guy:
Kady O'Malley noted in a committee live-blog that really is a must-read - that is, unless you want to avoid getting thoroughly depressed about the state of our democracy - Stephen Harper's MPs seemed to be reading from the same talking points as Hudak. To review, Hudak is a provincial opposition leader, and even many supporters of his party will acknowledge that his Toronto Sun op-ed was beneath him. These are the people running the country. And they seem not the slightest bit more interested in taking seriously the fundamental questions that have been raised about the balance between liberties and security. It would be nice to think that, once the theatre is over, some of these people are at least a little bit troubled by what their jobs involve.
This young lad has a great blog and has also been following the story. I love his profile: "I am a geek, world history buff, my interests and hobbies are too numerous to mention. I'm a political junkie with a cynical view. I also love law & aviation! I always promote young people who become engaged in politics, cynical or otherwise. Good job ... hmmmm Geek?
Del Mastro speaks, ignoring the fact that his government gave the 1.3 billion dollar contract to secure Toronto, while the money went to everything but securing the city. Instead it was used to attack anyone who doesn't support their Draconian government. Nice try Dino.
Monte Solberg is upset. And why is Harper's former Reform MP upset? He's upset that we are upset over the senseless violence that occurred during the G-20 in Toronto, when police turned on citizens but were told to allow the vandals to run amok.
Scenes of burning police cars and property being destroyed were used to justify the 1.3 billion dollar price tag for security. These Reformers did not think it through however, because watching those images only begged the question: where is the security and what exactly did our $1.3 billion buy?
Monte Solberg's almost blanket condemnation of protesters at the G20 summit in Toronto is disappointing, short-sighted and shallow. ... He criticized the "allegedly peaceful protesters" for failing to "rein in the brick throwers" and for clapping and cheering when the violence started. He should know that police discourage members of the public from intervening. As for the clapping and cheering, how does he know they were not Black Bloc participants, who change in and out of costume in mid-protest?
Solberg goes on to say the "legitimately arrested" were the overwhelming majority, which flies in the face of news reports that most of those arrested were eventually released without charges. Then there was the condescending comment that the protesters "obviously aren't articulate enough to channel their angst into persuasive arguments." If that wasn't enough of a cheap shot, he added that it might be a challenge given their "exotic" ideas.
So I would like to ask Mr. Solberg what he defines as articulate and what constitutes an "exotic" idea.
In 2003 Solberg took part in protests against then prime minister Jean Chretien's decision not to go to Iraq. At one of these protests when confronted by anti-war protesters in Calgary (Jason Kenney also helped to organize this) "About two dozen antiwar protesters chanted "Stop Killing!" as the war supporters filed out and shouted "U.S.A.! U.S.A.!"
Apparently Canadian members of Parliament chanting "USA! USA!" is much more articulate than a plea to "stop killing". And we would hardly consider a plea to "kill" simply because George Bush told them so, to be "exotic".
And speaking of George Bush, our own Jim Flaherty and Stockwell Day spoke at a "Friends of Bush" rally in Niagara, in support of the 2003 US invasion. And despite the fact that most Canadians, "exotic" or otherwise, did not support Bush, Flaherty and Day were allowed to protest without riot police beating the crap out of them.
And lets not forget another rally sans riot squad, with their very articulate signs "Adam and Eve , not Adam and Steve". Stephen Harper himself spoke at that one.
And despite the fact that he lied to these people about ending same-sex marriage, he was even allowed to do that. After all, that was back in the day when Canada was still a democracy.
These people can take comfort in knowing that the only reason their beloved Steve did not go there, was because he was trying to fool Canadians into believing he was a moderate. His own homophobia is well documented.
And let's not forget the rally after Guy Giorno demanded that his employee Stephen Harper not include abortion in his maternal health initiative, telling him instead to play to his base. Many of these pro-life rallies include very "articulate" signs with images of aborted fetuses. It doesn't get much more "exotic" than that.
And then there's Jim Flaherty's friend Charles McVety, who led a protest at the G-20 demanding a stop to Iran's nuclear weapons, despite the fact that they have no nuclear weapons, while Israel has enough to blow up the whole damn universe. There's no secret that his group "Christians United For Israel" are lobbying for a preemptive strike by Israel so they can fulfil their "end times" prophesy.
I wonder how many of his crew got arrested?
Canadians protest for many reasons. It's how we get our point across to our government. Protests have accomplished a great many things including the right to protest. This is clearly a government that does not allow dissent.
And by the way, Mr. Solberg. When you march at a "pro-war" rally, you cannot also march at a "pro-life" rally. It's one of the many reasons why you have no credibility, which makes you a perfect columnist for the Sun, but a lousy spokesperson for anyone else.
There is a law office that will be launching a class action suit. They are looking for videos and other evidence of Harper sanctioned abuse.
The Torontoist also has a lot of great photos and videos, including a comment from a Canadian soldier who knows what it means to don a uniform.
I did not put my life on the line and watch my best friends take their last breath to come home and watch the largest gathering of law enforcement this country has ever seen... cowed to the point of inaction as the city and its citizens endure the wanton destruction to their homes and business, only to have it answered by a heavy handed and indiscriminate hammer blow ..
... just as I would not stand for injustice within my own house... I will not stand for it in theirs. I have met countless officers who uphold our laws with dignity and professionalism. I would gladly give my life for anyone of them.What will not stand is when under the guise of 'security' police are given sweeping powers with no chance of reciprocity, the need to explain themselves or chance to defend against bullying tactics employed on a peaceful gathering of my country's citizens.
When you put that uniform on you are no longer John Smith of Toronto. You are a member of the Canadian Forces, just as you are a Royal Canadian Mounted Police Officer, or an Ontario Provincial Police Officer. A government employee who's mandate and training is to PROTECT the public. Not to protect themselves from threats within the public. It is their job as the civilian arm of our nations security to be the blue line between those that would see our way of life burnt to it's end and the Canadians who see more than a simple flag.Instead they formed a black wall and responded to WORDS with unrelenting, armed and often random VIOLENCE.
With Canadians Demanding Full Public Inquiry in to G20 Violence now at almost 51,000 members, we have still not heard a word from Stephen Harper or Guy Giorno about their involvement. Harper only claims that the 1.3 billion dollar price tag was worth it considering the mayhem.
The question most people have is why the mayhem when we spent 1.3 billion on security? And an even bigger question, why target journalists and civilians?
More broadly, a lot of the blame belongs with Prime Minister Stephen Harper, who knew exactly what kind of a mess he was inflicting on Toronto when he decided to hold his summit at precisely the place that was most convenient to attract the largest possible number of protesters.
Most protesters were peaceful and most beaten up by riot police were peaceful protesters.
I'm glad that there is a parliamentary committee looking into the violence and the Liberals are calling Vic Toewsas their first wittiness. Will he appear? Probably not, and even if he does he'll just try and lie his way out of it and blame someone else. Same old, same old.
The Liberal Party today called on Public Security Minister Vic Toews to be the first witness to appear at the Parliamentary Public Safety Committee to personally answer the questions that he has so far ignored regarding the G8 and G20 summits.“Last week, we sent a letter to the Minister with a specific list of questions that many Canadians have in the aftermath of the disastrous G20 summit in downtown Toronto,” said Liberal Government Ethics and Democratic Reform Critic Marlene Jennings.
These summits were pointless as the gap between rich and poor continues to grow and Harper's plans to punish Canada's most vulnerable to once again pander to multinationals is getting old. According to Maude Barlow:
The richest 2% own more than half the household wealth in the world. The richest 10% hold 85% of total global assets and the bottom half of humanity owns less than 1% of the wealth in the world. The three richest men in the world have more money than the poorest 48 countries.
Listening to parts of Harper's speech though, he is really out of his league. I do love the part where he says we must sacrifice our sovereignty. What sovereignty? He traded that away long ago for a handful of beans.
Under the looming shadow of Guy Giorno, Stephen Harper told the G20 that nations must abandon their citizens for corporate interests, by making us wear the deficit while going through with corporate tax cuts.
He claimed that helping those in need would only make them lazy and he can't abide lazy people.
What's that you say? You're in a hospital bed? No excuse. There is something you could do ... maybe empty bed pans or do magical tricks and charge a fee.
In a coma? No problem. You are qualified to be a Harper cabinet minister.
Nobel laureate Paul Krugman, believes that Stephen Harper may be descending into madness. He didn't have far to go. While preaching deficit reduction, but spending ridiculous amounts of money on a fake lake and the security team from hell, this man is now preaching deficit reduction. I think I heard Cookie Monster telling some kids that sweets aren't good for you, but no one believes him either.
[Paul Krugman believes that] weak demand for products and services will tip the economy back into recession, perhaps depression, unless governments spend more. But Mr. Harper’s work helped ensure it won’t be global stimulus, with money coming from other wealthy nations. He helped make the tone of austerity the G20’s keynote. Cuts to government spending in wealthy nations will take hundreds of millions of dollars out of the global economy in the next three years.
Mr. Krugman argues that’s madness. The bond vigilantes that were supposedly threatening to clobber big rich countries because of their mounting debts were always a spectre; they aren’t an imminent threat to most nations, and short-term cuts won’t sway them, anyway. What the economy really needs is more money flowing through it, he argues, so cutting hundreds of billions of dollars in government spending will compound the problem. He compares the idea that deficit cuts will spark private-sector confidence that will improve business to believing in “confidence fairies.”
If Krugman thinks Harper is mad because of that, he might want to check out the cost of a bloody fence that no one could get within 20 miles of, without getting their heads bashed in.
The almost 10 kilometres of fencing erected around the downtown G20 security zone cost $9.4 million, nearly double the original estimate, a federal spokeswoman says. SNC Lavalin Inc, the engineering and construction group which supplied the fence, had originally valued the contract at $5.4 million, said Public Works spokeswoman Natalie Pennefather.
The following video should be an eye opener, but I hope it's an eye opener to Canada's youth of voting age, who must get out and vote, because if not men like Guy Giorno, a corporate lobbyist for the oil industry, will get to be the one deciding their future.
Catholic journalist Ted Schmidt once said of Guy Giorno "[Most] ... have never heard Giorno's name, but every one's life is going to be irrevocably changed by what he has in his head."
Program cuts instead of reduced spending on frivolous ventures is designed to starve government, in the interest of private enterprises who have been clamouring to get their hands on our health care, pensions and social services.
The 1.3 billion and counting to tell the world to "be irrevocably changed by what's in Giorno's head" could have fed thousands of children, provided thousands of hospital beds, hired thousands of doctors.
This is not a government concerned with the economy, or with Canadian citizens. They only want to destroy the former so they can ignore the latter.
Someone passed along a column from yesterday's Toronto Star, that told of a man who had 20 years ago been cited for bravery, for helping to not only rescue a victim of rape, but apprehend the rapist.
His name is Norman Perrin. His story should have been uplifting, but instead it was tragic. Because after hearing of the horrendous assault on civilians during the G20 debacle, he turned his citation for bravery back into the police.
Like many of us he is finding little reason to be proud to be Canadian and even less reason to feel any sense of security, from a police force that was supposed to protect citizens, not turn out to be the people citizens needed protection from.
We were sitting in front of police headquarters; as he told the story, he dug into his bag for the plaque. “In grateful acknowledgement of outstanding services and unselfish assistance rendered to the Metropolitan Police in the preservation of peace and order.” Peace and order?
Peace and order indeed.
“The main thing was that 5-metre rule, but they were arresting people two miles away. And then we heard the premier saying that no new powers were given to the police. If that’s the case, what protection do I have now? And what the hell can I do about that?” The question was not rhetorical.“I can give this back.”
And so, when the weekend’s dust had settled, Norman called the cop shop and asked how he might proceed. No one on duty could tell him a thing, so he decided to hand it over in person on Saturday at noon. ... [Staff Sgt] Clarke asked if he wanted a receipt. Norman didn’t. Clarke asked for Norman’s name. Norman rolled his eyes and said it was on the citation. Outside, lighter of step if not exactly pleased, he said, “Done best, done quickly, I guess.” Like all acts of courage.
I wept through Norman's story and wasn't even sure if I could blog on it, but knew I had to. Norman already knew what it meant to be a good Canadian but learned on that weekend what little that now means.
I blog a lot now on Mike Harris and the man who was behind him: Guy Giorno. Giorno is now the man behind Stephen Harper and the script for what is taking place today, can be read at Hansard for the Ontario Legislature between 1995 and 2003.
Linwood Barclay wrote an excellent satirical book during those days: Mike Harris Made me Eat my Dog. (ECW Press, 1995, ISBN: 1-55022-368-2). The following was his tongue in cheek analogy of the Harris team being called in to do minor renovations, and instead they locked out the owner and gutted the place.
I held up a sign that read "Mike: Please Listen to Me!" and paraded out front of the house, but this proved to be a bad move strategically because he locked me out of my own home and barricaded the place.
I called a news crew out to the neighbourhood, to make my case that Mike was moving too far too fast, making changes we'd never agreed to. When reporters cornered Mike for his comments, he mocked me: "Well, of course he'd say that, wouldn't he? It's his house, after all, and he's motivated solely by self interest. But I'm here to tell you, this is one renovator who's not about to cater to vested interests."
When they were coming back from lunch, I attempted to block their path into my house, but I ran into a little trouble with some opp riot squad officers, decked out in Darth Vader gear, who'd been hired on by Mike to make sure things didn't get out of hand. When I stood in front of Mike, the riot squad officers, who had been trained in the most up-to-date negotiating techniques so as to defuse tense situations peacefully, beat the crap out of me.
As funny as that sounds it represented the Harris years when Giorno tried to turn Ontario into a police state. They even wanted to finger print all welfare recipients and anyone belonging to what they called "special interest groups". The idea prompted this cartoon:
I don't know what we can do to get the media to start paying attention. Stephen Harper is not a Conservative, he's a Neoconservative, and Neoconservatism is a form of fascism, where the country is run by corporations and religious zealots, and the only real power belongs to the boys in the backroom.
Don Davies, the NDP member of the committee, has obtained the signatures of his Liberal and Bloc Québécois counterparts on a motion that requires the committee to reconvene no later than Monday of next week. The New Democrats say the aim of this special summer gathering is to address concerns about the conduct of summit security personnel, violations of civil liberties, violence and property destruction, and the political and operational decisions that led to these problems. “This is the fastest way to get a form of public inquiry and we want to start getting answers now,” Mr. Davies told The Globe.
I am a Liberal supporter, but this is not a partisan issue. This is not a left-wing/right-wing issue. This is a Canadian issue. The scenes that played out in Toronto the weekend of the G20 were shocking and we can not simply sweep this under the rug, because it speaks to who we want to be as Canadians.
Are the scenes of burning cars and thugs (some of whom may have been provocateurs) really how we want to be viewed? A full public inquiry will tell the world that we are just as appalled as they are, and will remind Canadians that we are OK.
And Don Davies is now leading that charge.
The people of Vancouver Kingsway should be so proud that they chose this young man to represent them.
Toronto's latest tourist attraction is not encouraging tourists to add the city to their vacation must see. While Stephen Harper allowed vandals to run amok, so he could use those images to justify his enormous 1.3 billion dollar expenditure on security, those images have also turned others away. At a time when those tourist dollars are needed, our hapless PM has managed to scare the beejeezus out of potential visitors.
Luring tourists back to Toronto’s downtown area following the chaotic and violent G20 weekend is a top priority for businesses and city officials. Spending at stores, restaurants and almost every other business dropped dramatically during the June 25-27 summit that left a trail of broken windows, smashed ATMs, graffiti and burning police cars along Queen and Yonge Sts, according to Moneris Solution, a debit and credit card processing company. There are fears that Internet and media images of a burning Toronto Police cruiser and windows being smashed by protesters during the G20 may keep visitors away from the city.
As one person commented at the end of the article: "Who would want to come to Toronto, the police state capital of the world?"
Laura Penney thinks that Stephen Harper is rejoicing:
Holding the G20 in Toronto – as opposed to the more remote locations many suggested – was a golden opportunity for Harper to make this very case, very graphically, on the taxpayer's dime. The Harper government has the distinction of being Canada's most micro-managed, image-conscious government in Canadian history; those riots were no accident, whether they were fomented by police agents provocateurs or the customary Black Bloc suspects. Either way, the car-burnings and window-smashings were exactly what Harper wanted. (Can you think of a better way for him to flip the bird at hated Toronto?)
Toronto was not the only place given a black eye.
Welcome to Canada, the new Police State capital of the world.
There are now almost 48,000 people demanding a full public inquiry into the police brutality at the G20 in Toronto. There appears to be pretty substantive evidence that there were police provocateurs. $1.3 billion for security so they could just randomly beat people up.
There are also many democracy rallies planned, something that is becoming the norm with this government. It's Mike Harris all over again and Guy Giorno was in charge than too. I've had enough. He's never run for office but has become a one man wrecking crew.
John Pruyn wasn’t much in the mood for celebrating Canada Day this year. How could he be after the way he was treated a few days earlier in Toronto by figures of authority most of us were brought up to respect, our publicly paid-for police forces who are supposed to be there to serve and protect peaceful, law-abiding citizens like him. The 57-year-old Thorold, Ontario resident – an employee with Revenue Canada and a part-time farmer who lost a leg above his knee following a farming accident 17 years ago – was sitting on the grass at Queen’s Park with his daughter Sarah and two other young people this June 26, during the G20 summit, where he assumed it would be safe.
As it turned out, it was a bad assumption because in came a line of armoured police, into an area the city had promised would be safe for peaceful demonstrations during the summit. They closed right in on John and his daughter and the two others and ordered them to move. ... One of the police officers used his knee to press Pruyn’s head down so hard on the ground, said Pruyn in an interview this July 4 with Niagara At Large, that his head was still hurting a week later. Accusing him of resisting arrest, they pulled his walking sticks away from him, tied his hands behind his back and ripped off his prosthetic leg. Then they told him to get up and hop, and when he said he couldn’t, they dragged him across pavement ...
This whole thing was such an expensive waste of time and yet look at the damage it's done. How can we ever trust the police now? The people who are supposed to protect us, turned on us. Who gave the order? Who torched the cars? Why were the police told not to stop the vandalism of the Black Bloc?
The Quebec press is still talking about the G20, but the focus of the debate shifted last week. In the days immediately after the summit wrapped up in Toronto, pundits focused mainly on the communiqué and on the financial costs of holding the summit in a major urban centre. But over the past several days they turned attention to the police response to anti-G20 protests.
In a La Presse column Wednesday, Agnès Gruda agreed with the Canadian Civil Liberties Association’s assertion that the police crackdown (after a relatively small group of protesters vandalized police cars and private property) was “disproportionate, arbitrary and excessive.” Ms. Gruda quoted a student from Montreal who recounted her 40-hour ordeal in a detention centre after being arrested with about 200 other Quebec students during an early morning raid at the University of Toronto. Ms. Gruda called the student’s treatment by police “troubling” and condemned the police’s decision to arrest hundreds of peaceful protesters, who she argued should not have been “denied their right to express their opinions loud and clear.”
The Facebook group is growing, of Canadians demanding a full public inquiry into the beating of civilians and targeting of media during the G20 in Toronto.
I have been blogging a lot about Guy Giorno, because the media is largely ignoring him. But he is Stephen Harper's brains and the Canada he is creating for us, is the same Ontario he created for Mike Harris.
Why are policy advisors, executive assistants, communications officers and other staff, who should be uncorking the champagne, reaching for the Valium instead? With few exceptions, insiders say that Mr. Harris's reliance on a couple of close aides and the unprecedented centralization of power--referred to by some as "the Bunker"-- are the cause of the malaise ... Mr. Harris has played fast and loose with the democratic process ... In the Harris Kremlin, power flows from the centre. (Indeed, the term, "the centre" is now an ominous fixture of party newspeak, as in the oft-repeated phrase, "No one knows what the centre is thinking.") (1)
and:
Ontario democracy has been castrated. Mike Harris and a handful of advisers and consultants (people like Leslie Noble and Guy Giorno) run Ontario like a dictatorship. If you can get in the back door to them, you can get what you want. Governments get re-elected through changing the rules and spending huge sums on advertising. Once an election is won Mike Harris avoids question period and the legislature, mainly because his party passed legislation that renders the opposition parties toothless and the legislature irrelevant. His cabinet pushes through rafts of Orwellian bills and ignores public input, opposition and proper democratic procedure. Power is handed over to unaccountable boards and commissions that serve to lessen or eliminate the rights of citizens. (2)
He was with Mike Harris in the days when Dudley George was killed by "riot police" during a protest: "an Ontario Provincial Police sniper killed George as police moved in on unarmed protesters occupying Ipperwash Provincial Park ... police - dressed in riot gear - used unnecessary force. And they pointed the blame squarely at then-premier Mike Harris, claiming he issued the go-ahead order for the police to rush the barricades in a nighttime raid. (3)
And he was with Mike Harris during the Ontario Public Service Strike when "riot police" ... dressed head-to-foot in grey body armor, carrying Plexiglas shields and wielding wooden batons - charged into the crowd. The bloody confrontation - one of the most violent in Ontario's political history - will not be quickly forgotten. After a heated debate, deputy premier Ernie Eves called an inquiry into the incident. The OPP also faced sharp criticism from other police officials who said the riot squad may have even provoked the confrontation. (4)
And he was there when Riot Police attacked the Ontario Coalition Against Poverty March. Look at the photo to the right and then read the following and tell me that this does not sound exactly like what happened during the G20.
Top court dismisses bid by media on riot tape - Friday, September 7, 2001 – Page A8 Ottawa -- A group of media companies has lost its bid to stop police from retaining confiscated photos and videotape of a riot outside the Ontario legislature. The Supreme Court of Canada dismissed an application by CBC, CTV, Global Television, ONtv and The Globe and Mail seeking to appeal a ruling that upheld the police's right to confiscate and view footage from the riot of June 15, 2000. (5)
Guy Giorno helped to turn the Ontario government under Mike Harris into a dictatorship and the province into a police state. And he is doing the same thing to our country, while the media naps. There have been a few articles and they tell me he is stepping down in October. But how much more damage can he do before he is gone?
Giorno is Harper's Karl Rove and he must be stopped. But the only way to stop him is to get rid of Stephen Harper because they come as a matched set.
The list is growing and fast of Canadians who demand a full public inquiry into the actions of police during the G20 summit. They were an absolute embarrassment, and while I'm sure many were not proud of what they were forced to do, they did it. Instead of protecting the public they attacked them.
Some 900 people were detained between June 25 and 28, 2010 in Toronto. While some were connected to acts of violence and vandalism - acts which Amnesty International clearly condemns - many were engaging in peaceful protest or simply caught up in police actions while going about their daily business. Among those targeted were journalists and others attempting to document the protests and the police response. This scale of arrests in connection with protests is unprecedented in Canada.
"Among those targeted were journalists ... " In a free society journalism is required to record history as it unfolds. They should not be targeted in an attempt to silence.
"Our liberty cannot be guarded but by the freedom of the press, nor that be limited without danger of losing it." --Thomas Jefferson
1.3 billion dollars for security, while those breaking the law were intentionally ignored, those trying to chronicle the historic events were arrested and beaten. Equipment was broken and voices were silenced.
There was a lot of talk about whether people were being kept five metres from the fence, but in the demonstration on Saturday, people were kept 300 metres away. That was part of the frustration. People want to demonstrate against what they’re demonstrating against.
Some people say the police were damned-if-they-did and damned if they didn’t. - I don’t think that’s fair. The police should be damned if they did wrong things, and damned if they don’t do their duty. People ask, why didn’t they put out those fires? Did they want them there for the cameras? Was there a danger of those cars exploding? They didn’t deal with that. On the other hand, they came down very hard on peaceful protesters and bystanders.
In the last week, I have been called a stooge, a jerk, a bastard and a liberal patsy. I've been urged to grow up, man up, drop dead and f---k off. All because I entertain this eccentric notion that the Charter of Rights didn't come with a codicil reading "some rights may be withheld without notice." Civil libertarians are funny that way. We don't believe that rights can be compromised. It's sort of like your home insurance policy being automatically void in the event of a fire.
.... Dozens of people have already come forward with accounts of being arrested without cause. Scores of amateur videos on YouTube show ordinary citizens being pinned down, cuffed and dragged off to an improvised detention centre where many were denied lawyers or phone calls.
Law and order types have been bellicose in their defence of these tactics. Those who support compromises on Charter rights always do so because they don't think it will affect them. For obvious reasons non-blacks have no issue with racial profiling. But the criminal justice system is designed with two critical pillars in mind: all are equal and some are innocent.
Those who have made a fuss about all this, including myself and TVO personality Steve Paikin, have been dismissed for obsessing over pointy headed ideas. My personal heroes have always been men and women preoccupied with pointy headed ideas. People like Sir Thomas More, Nelson Mandela, Oscar Romero and Clifford Lincoln.
Lincoln was a much admired provincial Cabinet minister in Quebec in 1989. Confronted with yet another law restricting the use of English he resigned with the words "rights are rights are rights." True I don't live in North Korea or Iran. But just because there are worse violators of civil rights on the planet is no argument against sweating the small stuff. That's how it starts.
Chris White started a social networking group demanding a full public inquiry into police violence at the G20 protests. There are now almost 35,000 members.
What we saw this past weekend was eye opening. A diligent group of Canadians are piecing together video and tracked one young man from the torching of a police car to marching in the street This is the guy. Now does he look like an anarchist to you? He is clean shaven and wearing a flak jacket.
We've also learned that the police were told NOT to try and stop the vandalism but to "stand down". This despite the fact that they were trained to end this kind of activity. Many are quite upset that they weren't allowed to their job.
And the cache of weapons they proudly displayed for the benefit of Harper's media:
Police are living in a fantasy world if they think arrows on display Tuesday had anything to do with the weekend G20 violence, a Whitby man said Wednesday. Brian Barrett was shocked to go online Tuesday and see a photo gallery showing toy weapons seized from him while en route to Mississauga for a fantasy role-playing game.
His hand-made scale armour, cushion-tipped arrows and hockey-taped shields were among the items Toronto Police chief Bill Blair said were “seized from criminals” who wreaked havoc on the city Saturday. They weren’t the only misleading items on display during a Tuesday press conference. When Blair was asked about a chainsaw and crossbow, he agreed they had been seized from a man near The Esplanade in an incident unrelated to the G20 summit.
There is also a growing demand for the release of detainees who have had their civil liberties stripped in the name of Harper's Canada, a country I no longer recognize.
And still others demanding why an untendered contract worth 453 million dollars was given to a California based company to provide "security". The National Post asked for a breakdown of this contract and were told "to help the RCMP". Help them do what?
And the Ontario government was forced by Stephen Harper to expedite the licensing of a company he had hired that were not authorized to operate in Ontario.
The Ontario Ministry of Community Safety and Correctional Services says it is scrambling to grant a licence to Contemporary Security Canada after the Harper government awarded security contracts for the two summits to the Vancouver-based company even though the firm isn't legally allowed to operate in Ontario. It's an extremely unusual circumstance," said Laura Blondeau, a spokeswoman for Rick Bartolucci, Minister of Community Safety and Correctional Services. "We found out about it after the fact.... In Ontario, if you are not a licensed agency, it's a nonstarter. This is the hand with which we were dealt."
Mr. "H" and his puppet master, Mr. "G", have got some explaining to do.
And while the media was covering the government sanctioned vandalism, they missed the legitimate protests. I guess that's the way Harper wanted it. Will he ever be held accountable?
There was a great column in the Globe about Dean Del Mastro, by Douglas Bell, who aptly refers to him as the Canadian Idiot.
