Risky Business

Yesterday was a sad day for Toronto and for our country. Our Billion dollar security was not able to stop criminals from doing what they do best and that is committing outlandish mischief. Mischief is not the correct wording for criminal behaviour and the few hundred criminals who mingled with the ordinary protesters gave us a black eye.

I saw many ordinary citizens doing what they are entitled to do and that was protesting issues and policies that they want to publicize. Grandmothers for grandmothers, coalition against poverty and some fifty other groups marched and behaved well. With the city locked down in such a ridiculous manner it begged for trouble by those seeking mischief. It became a challenge and was well organized and became a nightmare for the police authorities.

In Huntsville area where the venue was isolated and easy to police there was little trouble other than a few signs and small group activity. Having this in Toronto was a huge challenge and our police authorities did the best they could under the circumstances. No amount of police force could look after such a difficult task. With the inner city actually locked down the perimeter to be looked after is huge.

It is too late to say I told you so but people in charge will find a better venue in the future for their photo ops. I feel sorry for the innocent owners of property who found themselves in harm's way through no fault of their own. The government already said they would not be responsible for damages but that might change. I am sure the City of Toronto will like compensation for damages to their police cars and so on.

Was it worth the money? Time will tell but until then we can assess the good and bad and become armchair quarterbacks on this issue. I know where I stand and hope I am wrong for Canada's sake.