Just watching the news and all hell is breaking loose. 
Yeah Harper said he will cover the damages as soon as possible , I mean shit he is spending our money like it was water.
I wish we could spend water. Rupert would be the richest city in Canadaā¦lol
Good one!
heh
LMAO! 
Gordo would probably try selling that as well.
Or at least tax the shit out of it!!
Actually, selling Rupert water isnāt a bad idea.Ā Whereās Ajaye when you need him? 
Well the G8 and G20 is all over and Harper has had his billion dollar photo opportunity to look statesmanlike with world leaders. Ā
You donāt need the benefit of hindsight to know that planning a G20 summit in the midst of a major city was going to be a security nightmare. Ā Harper and Toews well knew that these events have historically attracted dedicated groups of anarchists intent on causing havok and destruction and used this fact to justify the expenditure of a billion dollars plus to ensure the type of activities that we witnessed did not happen. Despite this price tag, the anarchists did what they came to do.
At the end of the day, we pledged 1 billion dollars to Maternal health care in Africa with severe religous based restrictions on how our money will be spent. The fact that we will have spent more than this on the meeting and the cleanup of the aftermath can only be described as surreal.
So what did we get for the billion dollars spent on security? Toronto was turned into a police state, the anarchists we expected to show up for the event succeeded in destroying private and public property, 700 people have been arrested and Amnesty International Canada is calling for an Ā independent review of the security measures put in place for the G8 and G20 summits as Canadian Human rights suffered considerably during protests in Toronto.
Harper - The Billion Dollar Bungler Ā
Anyone know how to contact the Black Bloc?Ā Would love to see them perform at the PNE.
well saidā¦'wrong venue for a meeting of this genre. Maybe next time theyāll get closer to the markā¦and there will be a next time.
'just want to touch on the āprotest/ activistā thing.
Besides the āriotā type of media coverage that weāve all heard the last few days, there is little main stream ( t.v. etcā¦) coverage of any groups of activists( i can probably name 2? ) that marched and protested. All the groups that participated in a protest became a nameless blur amongst the media.
I put this question to you. How effective is a protest during a G8/ G20 weekend? I mean, if youāve got something to say, Iām not sure that this is the best weekend for your message to be heard. āmakes me wonder whoās making these groupsā P.R. decisions.
I donāt agree with Speakupperās spin on āsevereā restrictions. These types of pledges are in need of far more than just an address to send the cheque to.
Agree that any message from legitimate protesters was lost. A pity as they would have been interesting to hear as a counterpoint to the āPartyā line the politicians deliver. So in addition to the property damage the small band of criminals responsible for the destruction also managed to interfere with Free Speech and undermine the delivery of alternative viewpoints.
As for severe restrictions, I would never advocate sending a blank aid cheque to any country. However in Africa where rape is routinely used as a weapon of war and terror, I find it disgusting that Canadian Aid would not be used to provide the same type of relief from an unwanted pregnancy that is available to Canadians. To restrict aid being used for legitimate maternal health care purposes that are legal in the African state is a throwback to colonization attitudes that I had hoped Canada had grown out of.
In short, the restrictions I was referring to were not prudent monetary restrictions but restrictions that the religious right wing has now placed into our international policy.
Listening to Maureen MacTeer on CPAC as she addressed a parliamentary committee talking about the practicalities of aid in Africa reminded me of how badly the current conservative regime compares to the days of Joe Clark and Robert Stanfield. In the following link, itĆ¢ā¬ā¢s also very chilling to see how the conservative government is silencing groups that dare to speak out against their policies. In short the tactics of religious fanatics rather than politicians interested in good policy debates.
The money countries pledge for a Maternal Health Initiative can be delivered into a country many different ways ( govāt agencies, NGOās, etc.) This initiative isĀ about which avenue the pledge will take. The religion card was pulled by the media and opposition leaders. Itās an easy mark.