Public Safety Committee on July 12th, 2010

Evidence of meeting #29 for Public Safety and National Security in the 40th Parliament, 3rd session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was chair.

A recording is available from Parliament.

On the agenda

Meeting Requested by Four (4) Members of the Committee to Undertake a Study of the Issues Surrounding Security at the G8 and G20 Summits

MPs speaking

Also speaking

3:40 p.m.

Conservative

The Chair Conservative Garry Breitkreuz

And I made the ruling already that it was.

Mr. Dewar.

3:40 p.m.

NDP

Paul Dewar NDP Ottawa Centre, ON

Chair, I just have to say, by Mr. Del Mastro's logic... I agree with him: we are here for a special meeting. There is actually no subject on the floor. By Mr. Del Mastro's own logic, though, you wouldn't be able to introduce a motion, because it's not related to anything, because there's nothing on the floor yet. That was the logic of his pronouncement. So I think you can't have it both ways. We're here. We've called a special meeting. I'm glad to see everyone here. That's it. Let's get on with that business and save the parlour tricks for later. We are here to discuss whether we're going to have the meeting. After that, we'll look at motions, and hopefully they'll be tabled in an appropriate fashion.

3:45 p.m.

Conservative

The Chair Conservative Garry Breitkreuz

With all due respect, that's not correct. We have an agenda here. We have something we need to discuss, and I've heard all the points of order. I'm going to now suspend again for a moment to sort these all out with the clerk, to decide how we're going to move forward here, because it is obviously taking a lot more time than I thought it would to simply proceed.

Okay. This meeting has been called to discuss whether we're going to undertake a study of the issues surrounding security at the G-8 and G-20 summits. That's what we're going to talk about first. Then I will entertain motions in the order in which I receive them.

Mr. MacKenzie has the floor. We will now let him continue.

3:46 p.m.

Conservative

Dave MacKenzie Conservative Oxford, ON

Thank you, Chair.

The motion I move is that the committee commend the efforts of front-line police officers who worked in exceptionally difficult circumstances to protect the safety of Canadians, delegates, and visitors to the city of Toronto and the town of Huntsville; and that the committee reject calls to promote the agenda of the violent mob made up of thugs and hooligans who set fire to police cars and damaged property during the G-20 in Toronto.

In support of that, Mr. Chair, the Government of Canada has been open and transparent with every aspect of the G-8 and G-20 summits. Overall security cost estimates for the G-8 and G-20 summits were made available through the normal estimates and supply tabling process in Parliament, and this government welcomed a review of all the security expenditures by the Auditor General of Canada.

What we're tasked with today is the issue of how the police conducted themselves under extremely difficult circumstances. We know that Toronto Police Chief Bill Blair was quoted as saying that the officers were there to facilitate peaceful protests. He even went so far as to say that it was the police's responsibility in a democracy to protect the rights of peaceful demonstrators. Clearly this was the expectation of the security teams on the ground, and to the credit of our hard-working public officers, those peaceful protests were allowed to convene and did take place.

Free speech is a principle of our democracy, but the violent mob made up of thugs, hooligans, and anarchists who set fire to police cars and damaged property during the G-20 in Toronto in no way, shape, or form represents a democracy or the Canadian way of life. Mr. Chair, freedom of expression is not a right to destruction. There is no excuse for resorting to violence to express political dissent, but I suspect that violence was the only thing they had in mind to begin with. The unfortunate reality at these summits is that they do attract a certain criminal element.

What we witnessed in Toronto has been seen around the world all too often since the early 1980s, first in European capitals and then later in places like Seattle, Pittsburgh, and closer to home in Montebello. Obviously the damage done and the violence inflicted was viewed as disturbing and deplorable to all Canadians who watched it unfold.

We should be commending the police who acted to protect delegates, residents, and visitors in what were, as we saw from the live media reports from the ground, very difficult circumstances. At no time was the safety of summit participants compromised, nor was there ever any breach of the security perimeter. When the mob of thugs, hooligans, and anarchists was stopped from breaching the perimeter, they set fire to police cars and damaged property. They came to Toronto determined to create mayhem, with one thing and one thing only on their minds: violence. These individuals purposely dressed in black clothing to intimidate. These cowards masked their faces. They came packed with weapons.

When members of the press attempted to film or photograph them, they turned on those same journalists. They taunted the police, they victimized shop owners, and worst of all they terrorized the hard-working, honest citizens of Toronto who worked in those shops and lived in those neighbourhoods.

On that point, let me add one additional point. Guidelines have been prepared to address situations where the Government of Canada considers payments to commercial businesses, non-profit organizations--