Public Safety Committee on Nov. 3rd, 2010

[Don Davies, NDP, Vancouver Kingsway, BC]

On a point of order--

[Roger Gaudet, Bloc, Montcalm, QC]

Are you serious? Did you bang your head? I am asking you directly.

[The Chair, Conservative, Kevin Sorenson]

Go ahead, Mr. Davies.

Mr. Gaudet, order.

[Don Davies, NDP, Vancouver Kingsway, BC]

Mr. Chair--

[Roger Gaudet, Bloc, Montcalm, QC]

He must have banged his head and could do with a bit of hair on it.

[Don Davies, NDP, Vancouver Kingsway, BC]

Excuse me.

Mr. Chair, I have the floor.

I'm used to Mr. Lobb's dramatic exaggeration, but with respect, for him to suggest that I said anything like I would take the word of the black bloc over the police, when I said no such thing, is highly offensive. It's not true. I ask that he withdraw that immediately. It's a false premise.

[The Chair, Conservative, Kevin Sorenson]

Yes. I'll tell all members to be very careful in their choice of words and in assuming any position of any other member unless it was specifically laid out, without going into it, in order to keep the decorum and the tenor in a proper way.

Go ahead, Mr. Lobb.

[Ben Lobb, Conservative, Huron—Bruce, ON]

Thanks.

My colleagues--

[Maria Mourani, Bloc, Ahuntsic, QC]

A point of order, Mr. Chair.

[The Chair, Conservative, Kevin Sorenson]

We've already dealt with that point of order.

[Maria Mourani, Bloc, Ahuntsic, QC]

I wanted to raise a point of order, Mr. Chair.

[The Chair, Conservative, Kevin Sorenson]

Go ahead, Madame Mourani.

[Maria Mourani, Bloc, Ahuntsic, QC]

I am asking for Mr. Lobb to show some respect in his remarks, Mr. Chair. He used the term “Monday morning quarterback” again and you should make a decision about it for this committee. I do not want him to use it again until you have made that decision, Mr. Chair. That kind of attitude is unacceptable.

[The Chair, Conservative, Kevin Sorenson]

Thank you.

Madame Mourani, I'm not certain how they're translating it. The English version of the phrase that you find offensive, “Monday-morning quarterback”...it may be offensive when it's translated. The reason you're taking offence, I guess, is that it means something different en français than in English.

But to all members, I would say that we need to have more respect and more decorum.

We'll just continue, Mr. Lobb.

[Ben Lobb, Conservative, Huron—Bruce, ON]

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

I would note that the members opposite hurled equal accusations across to our guests here today, our witnesses here today, and they feel fine doing so.

Back to my line of questioning, Mr. Gaudet commented on how easy it would be to arrest all the people with their masks on.

Using Mr. Gaudet's same logic, you must have been very busy on Halloween, because there were a lot of people with masks on then. I mean, that's his logic there.

My question to you, Chief Blair, is that Chief Superintendent Alphonse MacNeil made comments about how basically at the end of the day there were--

[Roger Gaudet, Bloc, Montcalm, QC]

A point of order, Mr. Chair.

[The Chair, Conservative, Kevin Sorenson]

We have a point of order.

[Roger Gaudet, Bloc, Montcalm, QC]

If Mr. Lobb has questions for me, tell him to ask them and I will answer. If not, could he please put his questions to the witnesses here?

[The Chair, Conservative, Kevin Sorenson]

That's not a point of order.

[Roger Gaudet, Bloc, Montcalm, QC]

I said not one word against the government just now. I asked the witnesses here questions. If the people opposite did not understand that, we have a big problem. I said not one word against the government just now. I was asking questions of the police officers, the police representatives, who were here.

I just want him to do the same thing as us. If he does anything else, it is not going to work here, Mr. Chair.

[The Chair, Conservative, Kevin Sorenson]

Thank you, Mr. Gaudet. I'll take that under advisement.

Mr. Lobb was simply making the point that you questioned the officers on why they were not out arresting those who were masked. That is what Mr. Lobb said. He did not come back on the government. He did not--

No more point of order....

Go ahead, Mr. Lobb.

[Roger Gaudet, Bloc, Montcalm, QC]

Mr. Chair, I did not say that the government did something wrong, or did this or that. Be careful what you say.

[The Chair, Conservative, Kevin Sorenson]

Mr. Gaudet, that is not a point of order. You're out of order.

Continue, Mr. Lobb.

And let's be cautious.

[Ben Lobb, Conservative, Huron—Bruce, ON]

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Chief Superintendent MacNeil commented about broken windows and a few damaged police cars, but the safety of the public and the delegates was definitely there. Could you comment on that?

[Chief William Blair]

First of all, on our responsibility to maintain the safety and security of the summit, I believe that was a successful mission. There was no interference with either the summit site itself or the motorcades.

There was difficulty in maintaining the public peace. We certainly saw significant disruptions to the public peace, damage to private property, and the injury of two innocent people, including police officers, on Saturday afternoon. It then required a great deal of work over the next two days to prevent a further breach of the peace in the city of Toronto and to protect our citizens.

A number of reviews are taking place. We are cooperating fully with those reviews because I believe it is the responsibility of the police to be publicly accountable to the public through our civilian authorities. We are doing our best to do that.