crownviccanada

Toronto just finished hosting the G20 gathering of world leaders. Everyone was here from Barack Obama to Julia Gillard, PM's first female PM. Unlike some, I don't believe the G20 or G8 has no use or that they are utterly unconcerned with the plight of the poor or less priviledged. Nor am I naive enough to believe that they'll keep most of their pledges or do anything that will hurt no. 1. But, there's something to say for countries of all kinds, dictators, Presidents and Prime Ministers having some time for face to face dialogue. Those expecting that the world will change as a result of it are silly but those that believe nothing will be done are wrong too. The problem with the G20 does not lie in the meetings themselves but in what you have to do to keep them safe. Canada spent a billion dollars on this event which I believe lasted a day and a half. That's obscene. They turned downtown Toronto into a police state which, to me, goes against Canadian values of peace, order and good government. The security became an exercise in disrespect from our government to our own people and from some of our own people to our guests. That part of the summitt was shameful. But let's be very very careful when we hear the Chief of Police brandish all lthe protesters as terrorists. This is a very worrisome statement. Protest is a very legitimate form of political action. Our Chater of Rights and Freedoms cannot be trampled by the works of a stupid cop. We have to worry about your democracy when someone labels legitimate protest as terror even when it involves some broken shop windows.