Alongside other Toronto New Democrat MPs, I will continue to call on the government to hold an independent, public inquiry into the events surrounding last Summer’s G20 Summit in Toronto, and to take action to ensure fair compensation for the small businesses impacted thereby. Read the Toronto Star article here.

Ms. Olivia Chow (Trinity—Spadina, NDP): Mr. Speaker, today’s G20 report shows that Canadians are still traumatized by what happened and are still looking for answers.      To date no one has stepped forward to claimed responsibility for the massive assault on people’s right to free speech and to freely assembly. No one has been held accountable.  [...]

Mr. Speaker, during the G20, innocent local residents were trapped by martial law. At the corner of Spadina and Queen, they were huddled in the pouring rain and humiliated for hours.

Hundreds and hundreds of people were arrested and detained in horrifying conditions only to have their charges dropped. The people of Toronto need to know what happened.

How did it go so wrong? Why will the government not call a full public inquiry? Why are Conservatives afraid of the truth?

Mr. Speaker, the so-called process the Conservatives have set up is slow, complicated, expensive, bureaucratic and does not even guarantee anything. Many business owners just gave up. Ninety-three per cent of downtown businesses suffered staggering losses in sales. They tell me that the boundary for compensation must be expanded. They want a fast, fair and transparent application process. They want to be compensated.

When will the government cut the red tape and get the compensation done?

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

The decisions that that led to Stephen Harper’s summits were being questioned long before Toronto’s downtown was put on lock-down but now, in the wake of the controversial weekend, concerns have grown to demands for answers.

These violent individuals were in no way associated with the peaceful rally. Their actions were shameful and criminal. It saddens me that the actions of a few criminals have distracted from the message of thousands of peaceful protestors, and I am angered by the destruction they have caused to our downtown core.

The following is an excerpt from a letter from the Summits Management Office, indicating that the Government will not provide compensation for damages caused by the G20 Summit: As you are aware, there is the opportunity to apply for an ex-gratia payment related to financial loss as a result of the extraordinary security measures for [...]

G20 is less than 10 days away, if you plan to go out of town during the weekend, please note the traffic problems you may experience. If you live south of King Street, click here for more important information.

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Ms. Olivia Chow (Trinity—Spadina, NDP): Mr. Speaker, the Conservatives can find billions to stage the G20 photo op and millions for a fake lake but nothing for the small businesses suffering from the lockdown of the largest city in Canada.