Summits came at a high price but delivered little

OTTAWA – After four days, two summits and billions of tax payers’ dollars spent, world leaders emerged Sunday evening with almost nothing new to report. There were doubts from the start about the goals of Stephen Harper’s summits, but after a controversial weekend in Toronto, many questions remained unanswered.

“Leading up to the summits Harper wasted his political capital on the ‘save the banks tour’ instead of advocating for maternal health, financial reform, and strategies to address global poverty,” said New Democrat Foreign Affairs Critic Paul Dewar (Ottawa Centre). “Harper treated these meetings as vanity projects. He rejected consensus and accomplished nothing on the most important issues facing the world.”

“The G20 was called at the last minute and forced onto Toronto. Against all logic, the Conservatives insisted that it be held downtown in Canada’s largest city,” said Toronto New Democrat MP Olivia Chow (Trinity Spadina). “In damages, lost income and wages, the summits have generated a huge financial cost for business owners and their employees. These hard working people have been forced to pay the price for Harper’s summit. The federal government may not be legally bound to compensate them, but they are morally responsible.”

Demonstrations are inevitable at events such at the G8 and G20 and downtown Toronto is an extremely challenging area for police to secure. Following the summits, serious questions have been raised about the implementation of security plans.

• Why did the federal government ignore the concerns and suggestions of the local government in holding the summit in downtown Toronto on a weekend?
• Who requested the temporary suspension of basic civil liberties for the duration of the summits? And why was this done in secret?
• What role did federal officials play in the Integrated Security Unit in policing the summit?
• Will the government compensate Toronto for the damage that Harper’s summits have caused?

“The estimated billion dollar budget for security should have been Harper’s first clue that downtown Toronto was the wrong place to hold a summit like the G20,” said NDP Public Safety Critic Don Davies (Vancouver-Kingsway). “It’s incumbent on the federal government to work with the Integrated Security Unit, the city of Toronto, the Province of Ontario and all three levels of police forces to find answers to the questions being asked about how strategic decisions were made and the way in which demonstrators and journalists were treated. I will be asking the Public Safety Committee to get to the bottom of these lingering questions and develop a post-summit accountability report.”