Thank you, Chair.
We've had quite a bit of discussion about commending the front-line police officers. I'd like to take a moment to also express my respect and support for Chief of Police Bill Blair, who also worked under extremely difficult circumstances, including a chain of command that it appears was terribly unclear at points in time. That added to the confusion and perhaps the mistakes that occurred around security issues during the summit. In fact there are allegations surfacing that there was second-guessing. So we need to clearly establish who the decision-makers were in that chain of command. Who was ultimately responsible? Was it in fact the head of the ISU, the integrated security unit, Superintendent Alphonse MacNeil? Was someone directing him out of the PCO? Who was making those decisions? Obviously there were terrible lapses--lapses in security and lapses in terms of Canadian civil rights being impinged upon.
Secondly, I want to add my voice to denouncing the so-called “Black Bloc”. I actually called them a mob of miscreants and misfits. Not only did they damage, as is mentioned in this particular motion, police cars, they damaged public and private property. Owners of individual small businesses were victimized by these people--as were all taxpayers of Toronto--when they destroyed public property. That needs to be addressed. They also hijacked legitimate protesters' abilities to speak out, assemble peacefully, and have their issues and voices heard. They drowned out the legitimate ability of Canadians to have their voices heard.
Finally, unfortunately, they have become the useful dupes for providing cover to what is a $1.2 billion and possibly a $2 billion security boondoggle and photo op for the Prime Minister.
I have to say as a person who was born and raised and who lives in and has lived in Toronto all my life, I was shocked, as were so many Torontonians, by what happened. We've never seen “Toronto the good”, as we like to call ourselves, being portrayed that way on the front pages of papers.
A million Torontonians lost their freedom of movement. We saw vibrant streets turn into empty canyons. Someone should have realized that the core of the city being devoid of its life, of its citizenry, would provide a perfect opportunity, with all the cameras rolling, for this mob.
That needs to be addressed. How was the decision made to put this in the city core, which would not only be a $1.2 billion boondogle but also restrict the rights of the citizenry of Toronto and leave the streets open and empty of citizens for this particular mob?
As will my colleagues, I'll be supporting this particular motion, and I look forward to supporting the motion that brought us here today. It's important so that we can look into all of the related issues surrounding this debacle.