Mr. Speaker, the G8 and G20 summits held back to back in Muskoka and Toronto a few months ago were unprecedented on a number of different fronts.
It was the first time the G8 and G20 summits were held back to back. We were very proud to host country these two summits. In a time of economic upheaval worldwide it was critical that Canada lend its voice not only to the recession, but to try and get a worldwide consensus and plan to work our way out of that recession.
Canada has the enviable record of being the one country in the world, I would suggest, that was least affected by this recession. That was due to sound economic policies, banking procedures and other policies of this country that allowed us to be a world leader in that respect.
I take some issue with my hon. colleague's characterization of what happened during the G20. Canadians from coast to coast to coast can remember vividly the images of professional protesters and the carnage they wreaked on Toronto.
Who can forget those images that were on all television stations of professional protesters? Perhaps they were not average members of our society or even of our country, but their sole purpose was to disrupt the G20 and cause as much damage and create as much havoc and chaos as they possibly could. We saw the images of police cars on fire and of protesters jumping up and down on those cars and throwing flammable liquids to try and create that havoc and chaos. That is something I do not think any Canadian who paid attention will ever forget.
That is why the security budget we brought forward to deal with those incidents is as high as it is. Security comes at a price. Thank goodness our government had the foresight to bring in a budget that anticipated these types of actions and reactions from these protesters.
I would add that as we stand here today, the budget for the G8 and G20 summits was approved by this Parliament, and the costs seem to be coming in well under budget. Not all the costs are in; we appreciate that some costs will be coming in over the coming weeks and months, but I am very confident in stating that we will be under budget. That is one thing I think many other countries would aspire to.