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--