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.  [...]

As the city of Toronto comes to grips with transit service cutbacks, Federal New Democrats are proposing legislation to help communities deal with the costs of public transportation. The National Public Transit Strategy Act would coordinate between all levels of government to maintain and expand public transportation across the country.

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?

Dear Minister Strahl,

I am writing to urge you not to waste precious taxpayer dollars which have been designated for transit riders in Toronto. The province has already spent $130 million on Transit City and signed $1.3 billion in contracts.

Mr. Speaker, it is my honour to present to Parliament a petition signed by many hard-working store owners, their employees, shoppers and ordinary Canadians in support of my private member’s bill called the “Lucky Moose bill” to make sure that hard-working store owners are not punished as they try to protect their property.

The public deserves to know. Ordinary Canadians have the right to a public inquiry to get to the bottom of what occurred in Toronto during the G20.

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?

Dear friends, Many people have asked about the process for auditing and reporting expenses for Members of Parliament. MPs’ expenditures are disclosed publicly each year and posted on line.   http://www2.parl.gc.ca/PublicDisclosure/UnderstandingReport.aspx?Language=E&Mode=1&Parl=40&Ses=3 In addition, there are independent, external audits done on House of Commons expenditures, including MPs’ expenses. Unfortunately, there have been some inaccurate media reports as [...]

I hosted a transit forum on August 16 and invited TTC Chair Adam Giambrone,  Go Transit Managing Director Gary McNeil and Keith Brooks from the Clean (electric) Train Coalition. Many  residents attended to share their ideas and here are the results. 1. More King Streetcar service during rush hour: TTC Chair Adam Giambrone announced the addition of five [...]

Tired of waiting an eternity for a streetcar only to have 4 come at once? Dreading another winter where you freeze your fingers and toes at streetcar stops? I am hosting a meeting on how to improve TTC streetcar service and would like to hear from you.  When: Monday, August 23 at 7 pm Where: [...]

Over a week after the G20 security fence was taken down the Conservative government has still done nothing to address concerns about the conduct of summit security personnel, violations of civil liberties, violence and property destruction, and the political and operational decisions that led to these problems.

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 [...]