Back to Normal...

It was quite a week in Toronto! Hosting the G20 Summit was exactly as advertised… a huge inconvenience to anyone who lives or works in the south end of the city. For most of the week leading up to the event, it was actually nice - quiet and easy to get around downtown with no traffic issues and easy parking. Not so much on the weekend.

I found it disturbing to watch TV and see “protesters” burning police cars and breaking shop windows in Toronto. We see it often enough in world news but never in our own backyard.
It is clearly the kind of thing we are not used to however, listening to talk radio this morning made it sound like half the city was destroyed – like it was some kind of violent war zone and that somehow the police did not do thier jobs. I know the media sensationalize everything but is it really necessary to create controversy where non exist? The truth is that despite the inconvenience, the conference went off safely, the delegates were protected (which was clearly the first priority) and the small amount of violence while unnecessary was relatively minor. In fact our friends in Montreal do more damage to their own city every time the Habs win a big hockey game.

Whether the summit should have been held in Toronto is a separate debate but I think the police did a good job keeping the order.
What I don’t understand is what the protesters hope to gain by breaking windows at a Starbucks. Reasonable people listen to rational arguments and protests. Rational people lose interest in protests that are violent or destructive.
In the end, the irony is that most of the reporting ends up being about the protest itself and not the actual reason for the protest.

In the end, it was a few strange days and now that its over, we return to normal. The Leafs did not make a deal on draft day, the Raptors are going to lose Bosh, the Jays continue to chase the Yankees and Red Sox and there is road construction everywhere. Summertime in Toronto!
Time to kick back and enjoy the Canada day weekend and the finish of the world cup.

Cheers and have a great day.
George

PS to my Dutch friends – go orange go!